Omen
by sweetheartyy
Summary: Waking up one day after a really weird dream, Taniyama Mai finds that she already knows people she never met and things before they even happen.
1. Chapter 1

**April  
** _ **Thursday**_

For a brief moment, she had no idea where she was.

Then the gears kicked in and she sat up in a panic, chest moving up and down as she gasped for air and looked around wildly for the blaring noise. There was three deep bangs against her apartment door and she flinched at the loud intrusive sound before the voice of the really nosey lady who lived next door to her sounded through her apartment.

"Your alarms been going off forever!" Her muffled voice snapped angrily. "Some of us are trying to sleep here!"

"S-sorry!" Mai called back quickly as she snapped back to reality and practically flew across her bed to slam her hand down on the blaring alarm clock at the bed side. For a few seconds after she listened to her neighbours footsteps moving away back down to her own apartment and then ran her hand through her hair with a sigh, wondering why she woke up in such a frenzy.

The colour _red_ suddenly flashed through her mind.

She blinked. That's right, she had a really weird dream last night. What was it about again?

 _"Your alarms been going off forever!"_ Her neighbours words suddenly hit her like a brick and Mai immediately looked to her clock where the time read _8:12AM_.

"WAHH!" Mai screeched and threw herself off the bed, hitting the floor and crawling towards her washroom where she began a rushed version of her morning routine, opting to wash her face rather than shower like she usually did. She barely had the taste of toothpaste out of her mouth before she was struggling to get her uniform on quickly, forgetting to put on an under shirt like she usually did and pulled up her stockings roughly.

Moving over to her small table she stuffed all of her school work into her school bag before zipping it up quickly and was just about to head to the door when something caught her attention. It was a hair clip her mother owned that was the colour of deep red with a red diamond flower at the top, very simple yet pretty at the same time. She thought about it for a moment before looking at the mirror hanging on the wall and pushed the hair clip into the hair above her ear, holding her bangs back slightly on the right side.

She observed herself in the mirror for a moment and tilted her head before smiling. It looked pretty. Her eyes flickered behind her in the reflection of the mirror and the the clock read _8:26AM_.

She got distracted!

"Okay, class starts at 8:30 so I'll definitely be late, but gates close at 8:40 so that means I have to..." She mumbled to herself as she frantically left her apartment and locked the door behind her, glancing at her watch. "...make a thirty minute walk to school a fourteen minute run." She decided and then flew down the brick stairs of her apartment block and began running the path to her school, her chest burning and legs beginning to feel numb by the time she made it down the street.

She checked her watch. 8:39AM. "Crapppppp." She cried as she picked up the speed, waving her arms above her head as she saw the president of the disciplinary committee beginning to close the school gates. "Wait!" She yelled and saw him glance up at her, glasses glinting against the sun. She made it to the gate just as it was only a foot from closing all the way.

The DC president gave her a stern look. "You're cutting it close, Taniyama." He warned.

Mai placed her hands against the bars, giving him a pleading look. "Please, this is the only time I've been late." She didn't bother to question how he even knew her name, considering that she never had an interaction with him in the past as she wasn't really a rule breaker.

He gave her a look over before his eyes stopped at her hair. "That hair clip is violating dress code." He informed her.

Mai blinked and raised her hand to the hair clip before giving him a deadpan look. "You're really gonna dress code me on rules that are like a thousand years old?" She questioned in disbelief before stiffening when his eyes narrowed on her. Right, she shouldn't really be talking back in this situation. She cleared her throat before giving him an innocent smile. "If you let me in I'll tell you something really scandalous."

The president's arms slackened. "Like what."

Mai leaned a little closer. "I know about someone who smokes!" She whispered to him and saw how his eyes widened.

"Smoking?!" He repeated, obviously scandalized. "Who is it?"

"You gotta let me in first." Mai gave him a smile.

He seemed to think about it, weighing the pros and cons before reluctantly moving out of the way so she could move inside the gates. Immediately she made a run for it and headed towards the front doors, hearing the presidents cry of shock.

"Taniyama Mai!" He screeched. "Who is the person who smokes?!"

Mai let out a giggle and glanced over her shoulder as she continued running, "It's Nakamura Yuko!" She called back.

The presidents face fell in shock before bursting with colour in anger. "That's a teacher! Teachers are permitted to smoke!" He screamed back at her but she only ignored him, opening her locker and exchanging her outdoor shoes for her indoor shoes before running to her classroom quickly, stopping outside of the door to catch her breath and compose herself.

She pulled up her stocking that fell down in her running before sliding the door open.

The chalk in Nakamura-sensei's hand stopped against the board. "You're late."

"I know, I'm sorry." Mai bowed quickly and glanced towards Keiko and Michiru with a nervous smile while she waiting for her teacher to tell her to take a seat or wait in the hall for repercussions.

A few beats of silence passed as she continued writing on the board before letting out a sigh. "Take your seat." She told her and Mai nodded quickly, making her way through the rows of desks to her seat in the middle of the classroom, just about to sit down when her teacher called for her. "And Mai?"

Mai stopped. "Y-yes?"

Nakamura-sensei didn't even glance at her. "Your hair clip looks very nice today."

Mai relaxed immediately, her smile radiant. "Thank you!"

* * *

Keiko's pigtails swayed with her head as she tilted it, giving Mai an incredulous look. "Eh? He tried to dresscode you on your hair clip?" She asked in disbelief as they settled in for lunch break around Mai's desk.

Mai placed her head in her arms, letting out a loud sigh. "Yep, he did. Almost didn't let me in the gates."

Michiru gave Mai an apologetic look at she stuck her straw in the strawberry milk she bought. "That sucks. And it's the first time you were late too." She shook her head and proceeded to unpack her lunch before noticing that her friend was unmoving. "Mai, aren't you eating?"

"Nope, I didn't have time to even look in the fridge." Mai huffed and sat up to place her cheek in her palm, watching her friends unpacking their homemade lunches which caused her stomach to start growling.

Keiko giggled girlishly. "Don't worry, Mai. You can share with me." She offered gently.

Mai gave her a wide eyed look. "Keiko, you're the best." She cried and pretended to sniffle like she was tearing up. Keiko simply smiled and the three began eating, talking about mundane subjects that included cute boys and rumours. For a moment Mai took this moment to glance out the window with distaste at the pouring rain that seemed to appear out of no where.

She hadn't brought an umbrella because it wasn't supposed to rain today.

Deciding that she wouldn't try to focus on everything that seemed to be going wrong with her day she glanced at her two friends and picked up a piece of meat from Keiko's lunch and then turned to Michiru. "So, Michiru how's your fathers promotion coming along?" She asked nonchalantly and watched with a raised eyebrow as Michiru froze, turning to Mai with a confused look.

Keiko tilted her head. "Oh, Michiru your father got a promotion?" She questioned before setting down her chopsticks and clapped. " _O_ _medetō_!"

Mai gave the pigtailed girl a playful shove. "Keiko, how could you forget? Michiru already told us." She laughed in amusement at her friends forgetfulness.

"Eh?" Keiko now seemed genuinely confused and turned to her other friend. "Did you tell us?"

Michiru slowly shook her head. "Uhm, no I didn't." She denied and turned to Mai. "I was just about to tell you actually."

 _"My father got a promotion at work! I can finally get that new laptop that I've been wanting!"_

Mai frowned. "No, I'm sure you've mentioned it." She stated and turned to Michiru, "You even said how you can finally get a new laptop."

"Oh." Michiru placed her chopsticks down. "I must have mentioned it before then." Despite the way her eyebrows were set in confusion she gave Mai a smile. "Sorry, I'm really forgetful."

Keiko let out a laugh. "Well anyway, I'm excited for after school today. You guys are gonna be really spooked."

Mai suddenly had the feeling that something was off. Deciding to ignore the way her stomach suddenly dropped she attempted a smile at Keiko, "What's going on after school today?" She questioned curiously.

Keiko and Michiru suddenly stopped to stare at her.

"What?" Mai asked, all playfulness now gone.

Michiru leaned forward and placed the back of her hand against Mai's forehead. "You don't have a fever." She said and turned leaned back to look at her more fully. "You don't look visibly sick."

"What are you talking about?" Mai laughed nervously.

Keiko frowned softly. "Mai, are you alright?"

Mai swallowed down her saliva and noticed how her appetite was suddenly gone. "Yes." She took a moment to compose herself before glancing back upwards. "Why are you excited for after school today?"

Michiru gave Mai a weird look. "We're telling ghost stories, Mai. Like we always do."

Mai gave Michiru the same 'duh' look. "Yeah, we do that on Thursdays." The two remained silent. "We told ghost stories yesterday, guys." Mai suddenly tried to explain herself and saw how the two of them shared the same really confused look. "Right?"

Keiko shook her head slowly. "No, Mai, we didn't."

"Yes, we did." Mai's eyes were suddenly drawn to the window when thunder lit up the school courtyard.

 _"...And we'll be looking at 60% chance of it thunder storming on Thursday, but don't be too down cause Friday will provide us with a nice sunny day."_

"It's thunder storming." Mai observed quietly and took a few moments to calm down her heart and then glanced at her friends slowly. "What day is it today?"

"It's Thursday." Michiru told her slowly.

"Ahh." Mai nodded.

"Are you really okay?"

Mai managed to smile. "I think I'm just really tired. I had a hard time falling asleep last night." Her explanation seemed to ease the two up and eventually they went back to normal topics and lunch ended, causing the two to head back to their desks.

She pulled out the school work for her next class as the teacher walked in and looked down at the place where her bookmark was placed in between the pages. Chapter 14. Mai stared at the book blankly as her mind tried to make sense of why she suddenly realized that she already knew what took place in the further chapters of the book. She was sure that she read past chapter 14 but her bookmark said otherwise.

Yes, something was terribly wrong.

* * *

The three of them sat in the empty audiovisual classroom with the lights off, their chairs turned together and each of them holding a small light to their faces to illuminate their expression.

Mai attempted to hide her smirk as she continued her story, "The policemen quickly opened the stall door and the girl was dripping with blood, almost as if she were _covered in a red cape_."

"Ehhh." Keiko squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

Michiru shivered. "Mai, don't use that scary voice!" She complained, obviously spooked.

Mai grinned mischievously at her friends before clicking off her light, Michiru's light the only one remaining on now. "Your turn."

Michiru nervously glanced around the dark room before clearing her throat. "Then, mine is about the old school house."

Mai suddenly straightened in her seat as she thought about the old school house, watching Michiru's lips moving as she told the story but not really listening. The old school house was rumoured to be haunted, as there were a few past incidents there and some speculations but it was all never proved to be true and Mai herself never experienced or saw anything in the windows like the senpai in Michiru's story claimed to.

So why did thinking about the old school house give her major creeps?

"-That's it." Michiru finished off and Mai glanced upwards as she turned her light off, enveloping them in darkness.

Mai swallowed. "One."

Keiko's hand tightened around hers. "Two."

Michiru finished it off. "Three."

 _Four_. Mai shivered.

"Four."

"WAHHHH!" Keiko screamed loudly as she jumped onto Mai, hugging her tightly while Michiru also lost her crap.

Supposedly, if you heard someone reply after you were done counting it was a ghost. But why was Mai not scared at all?

The lights above them flickered on and Mai flinched, averting her eyes to the ground as she suddenly became anxious.

Keiko relaxed in her grip as she stared at something over Mai's shoulder. "Was that you just now?"

A deep voice responded. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

Michiru stood up with her hand against her chest. "You sure did!"

Mai remained staring at the ground.

"Sorry, it was so dark that I didn't realize anyone was in here." The male behind them apologized. Michiru and Keiko suddenly got a good look at his face and their cheeks immediately reddened. "Forgive me?"

Keiko stood from her seat. "Oh no it's fine!" She laughed nervously and she and Michiru moved past Mai to talk closer with him.

It took her a few moments to gather up her courage but she managed to turn around. That feeling was there again, like something was going to happen or something was out of place. Slowly moving her eyes from the males feet to his slacks and then up his chest to his face, she was hit with a huge wave of nostalgia and swayed on her feet.

"What's your name?" Michiru asked excitedly.

She placed her hand against the desk to steady herself and blue eyes flashed toward her.

He smiled. "Shibuya Kazuya."

 _Liar._

Mai recomposed herself and just barely managed to ignore the way her heart was beating quickly. Sure this guy was handsome but surely she wouldn't react that way. "What are you doing here?" Her voice came out steady and she was thankful, but she couldn't help but notice how his eyes weren't smiling even though his lips were.

Shibuya Kazuya turned away. "I'm taking care of something."

Mai watched as he turned away and stared at the back of his head, her skin suddenly feeling cold and sweat beginning to form on her forehead. She didn't feel so well. Clenching her fists against the desk she looked down and used one hand to reached up and tug the red hair clip from her hair.

"Mai are you okay?"

"Huh?" Mai glanced upwards and saw that they were staring at her. That guy was smiling, and even thought it was fake she felt like she'd seen it before. "Yeah, I just have deja vu." She tried to laugh it off and was relieved when the two returned their focus to the guy.

The red hair clip sat in her palm comfortably.

 _"Who's there?!"_

 _A book shelf._

 _"I work at Shibuya Psychic Research."_

 _"... from Mount Koya."_

 _"MAI!"_

"Mai!"

Mai jumped and looked up with wide eyes and saw that the three were staring at her once again.

Keiko's eyebrows furrowed. "Mai, you're really pale."

Mai stared at Shibuya Kazuya, and somehow knew that it wasn't his real name.

This already happened, didn't it?

"Mai?"

"I'm sorry." Mai stumbled backwards and raised her hand to her forehead. "I think I'm..." She didn't get to finished her thought because her legs buckled from beneath her and she hit the ground.

The last thing she saw was the florescent lights and Oliver Davis hovering over her, blue eyes staring intently.

* * *

 **So I really like the idea of main characters already knowing what happens with the storyline before it happens but I don't really like the Reincarnation fics because I think it's just distracting to put someone with a different name and age into someone else's body, so I've used the whole knowing what's going to happen in a different way, where Mai can be Mai but an improved version.**

 **Reviews would be appreciated, they give me life.**


	2. Chapter 2

When she woke up, she was laying in the nurses office with a thin blanket over her while a cool breeze blew through the windows, picking up the white curtains and blowing them throughout the space in a very odd manner.

Mai stared at the way they obscured the rest of the office and cringed. "That's kind of creepy." She muttered to herself and pushed herself to sit up before reaching in between the curtains to close the windows, stopping the wind from coming into the office and making the curtains go back to their rightful place.

 _Ding_.

It was her phone that lay on the nurses bed, alight with a reminder that she got a text. Mai blinked at the screen, unimpressed. It read _7:42PM_ , meaning she had been asleep for a little over two hours. Ignoring the time, she decided to read her texts that she received around _5PM_.

 _Keiko_

 _I'm sorry Mai! I had to go home so I could watch my little brother, please call me if you still don't feel well._  
 _I feel very bad about leaving you alone_  
 _(╥_╥)_

Mai couldn't help but smile at her text, so apologetic and cute Keiko was. She sent a reply saying how it was okay and that she was fine now before moving onto the next text, her smile dropping into an unimpressed smirk.

 _Michiru_

 _I have cram school and we have a test, so don't call me unless you're on the brink of death._  
 _(¬_¬)ﾉ_

Mai huffed at the really direct and blunt reply and quickly got to typing back an equally direct response.

 _I hope you fail your test._

Snapping her phone shut she moved immediately to place her indoor shoes on and picking up her bag so she could finally make her way home. It only took a few minutes for her to switch out her shoes and be on her way but she couldn't help but notice a light switch on in the old school building and stared at it blankly for a few moments.

That's right, how could she forget.

She needed to go home and really think about how she knew the things she knew and see if she was sane, and if she was sane then she couldn't go around telling people she hadn't met yet that she already knew them.

So she needed to start searching for psychiatric wards in the area or think of a really good game plan.

 ** _Friday_**

She was insane.

So she came to the conclusion that everything from her dream the previous night was why she'd been acting weird yesterday. And she was sure that Shibuya Kazuya was not that guys name and that it was actually Oliver Davis, but when she looked up the name all that came up were pictures of really old men. She really was crazy.

The whole dream was a huge mess now that she thought about it, things were unclear and jumbled together and she knew things she didn't know before, like that book! She knew about the ending of the book but her class hadn't even passed the midway mark in the story.

"Ahhh!" Mai ruffled her hair in an attempt at clearing her mind but the way her hair smacked against her face only reminded her that she lost her red hair clip. Pouting softly she continued walking down the walk way, a soft breeze suddenly caressing her skin and she looked upwards, a smile curving her lips carefully. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the walk to school was beautiful.

She'd been up all night so she decided to come to school early so she had the walking path to herself.

Grinning widely, she raised her arms above her head to stretch them out a little. "This feels nice!" She said to herself happily, content with the situation and continued walking with a jump in her steps before- Wait. That feeling was there again. "What now!" Mai huffed and stopped in her place to look around, knowing that if she got that weird feeling then that meant something was to happen.

She turned to her right and stopped. It was the old school building.

She narrowed her eyes immediately at the building. "There's a bookshelf in there." She hummed thoughtfully together while standing in front of the gate, her arms crossed as she contemplated her situation. So she could continue walking and go on with her life or she could go inside and confirm whether something would happen with this bookshelf she somehow knew was situated in the walk way of the entrance.

She thought. And thought. And continued thinking until she decided to go with the flow.

"What'll it hurt to just take a peak?" She asked herself and moved inside the gate, creeping towards the front doors in a very suspicious manner before stopping at the windows and glancing inside slowly. Her eyes widened. A bookshelf! Twisting her hand around the handle she slowly turned it and opened the door after, moving inside of the old school building quietly.

There was a camera.

Mai blinked curiously at it. She was so caught up in the bookshelf she didn't even notice there was a huge camera facing the door. Did that mean she was being recorded right now? She glanced around her curiously before making a silly face at the camera and snickered to herself in amusement.

 _Creeeeak_.

"Eh?" Mai blinked and immediately glanced behind her at the shelf when she heard it creak but it remained unmoving. Was she imagining things then? No, that wasn't right. She took a few steps back away from the camera to move closer to the shelf. In her dream did this thing move-

"Who's there!"

Mai yelped in shock, tripping over her own foot and flying into the shelf, causing it to creak loudly as it leaned back.

 _Shimatta._

Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her what happened in the dream. It fell over. But not on her. Her attention was drawn to the front door and like she thought there was a large shadow and held out her hand in a panic, "Stay back!" This man got injured if she remembered correctly. Lin Koujo was the name that rang through her head like a bell.

But it was too late because he'd already pushed her out of the way and she hit the ground harshly, watching dust fly up around the vicinity as the shelf fell atop of him. Mai moved into action immediately when she saw that his leg was stuck under the shelf, hooking her fingers around the edge and pulling with all of her might and lifting it up enough to get his leg out. "Are you okay?" Mai asked in concern as she moved towards him quickly. "I'm sorry, you startled me."

"What's happened here?" A deep voice interrupted and Mai looked upwards just in time to see the good looking guy from yesterday, Shibuya Kazuya or Oliver Davis, whichever he was. He moved towards Lin quickly after accessing the situation and pulled his arm up to help him stand. "You're bleeding, are you okay?" He asked seriously.

Mai moved forward to help him stand up as well but Lin's hand swiped past hers quickly as she just managed to dodge the smack to her hand he had intended for it, his way of telling her he didn't want her help. But he hadn't been able to smack her hand away, cause she knew he was going to do it before it happened.

She wasn't crazy.

"You're that girl who fainted yesterday," The younger male observed with narrowed eyes. "Is there a doctor near here?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah." Mai used her finger to point to her left. "Just down the street." He didn't give her a reply as the two of them made their way back through the door before stopping at the frame.

He glanced back at her, blue eyes seeming intent. "You're late." He suddenly informed her.

"Eh?" Mai blinked before her eyes widened and she bolted past them quickly, looking at her watch and seeing that she was indeed going to be late for class. She jumped over a bush quickly, pumping her legs across the baseball diamond towards the lockers and passing the DC president on the way.

"Taniyama Mai!" He screeched her name as she flew past him, pointing at her accusingly.

"Weirdo." Mai huffed as she switched her shoes hurriedly.

* * *

"Aha!" Mai grinned in triumph as she held up her master piece, ignoring the weird looks she was receiving from those around her.

Mai figured that being able to know things before they happened was useless if she only remembered them seconds before. She realized that the only reason she had trouble remembering the dream was because it was all jumbled up in a confusing mess so she decided to organize everything in a certain way. It was hard and it gave her a headache, but she managed to get down the gist of it.

The first thing she wrote down in her empty notebook took up the entire front page.

 _KEEP OUT!_

Of course there had to be a warning, how would people know they weren't welcome to look in her notebook unless she wrote it down? The second page was much more productive, as it had the profiles of the people in her dreams. She didn't remember names, but she remembered the appearances and the big things about them. Like there was a woman with red hair, and a girl who resembled a ghost. The next page she wrote down was timeline as she remembered from her dream there was a certain flow to it, like she'd already lived through everything.

First in the timeline was Old School Building. She wrote down below it things that she remembered from this, which was the book shelf and the man getting hurt. She also remembered briefly from her dream is that this is where everyone met, so she came to the conclusion that sooner or later she would meet the red haired women and the girl who resembled a ghost. There were other things she recalled, but one of the big things that was most prominent was that the old school building was not haunted.

It was land subsidence.

As the timeline went, she wrote down what she remembered most prominently and figured that if she followed the timeline in the dream they would eventually come to those points but at the moment she was more focused on the more recent upcoming events.

"Get your head in the game, Mai!" She whispered to herself and looked up just as the bell rang signalling the end of the school day. Packing up all of her notes quickly she shoved them into her bag, hooking it around her shoulder shortly afterwards and turning around to find that her two friends were staring at her. "What?" She questioned.

Michiru stared at her. "Why are you getting packed up?"

"Cause I'm going home." Mai deadpanned.

"You're going home?" Keiko repeated in shock, pouting afterwards. "What about telling ghost stories with Shibuya-senpai?"

Mai thought about his cold blue eyes from this morning and frowned. "I don't care." She replied calmly. She truthfully didn't want to sit with him for at least an hour uncomfortably since he was still a suspicious person to her. Was he Shibuya Kazuya or Oliver Davis?!

Plus, there was nothing she remembered from the dream that she told ghost stories with him after school so why try to change anything?

"No way, Mai! I can't believe you." Keiko gave her a pleading look. "This is our chance to tell ghost stories with a cute guy."

"Ghost stories, you say?!" It was a girl with black hair put into braids, glasses covering her eyes. She was standing at the door of their classroom and was staring at them in anger. "Is that what you girls do after school all the time?" She made a show of placing her hand to her forehead. "No wonder I've been getting so many headaches. I'm spiritually sensitive, you see, and I get headaches when ghosts gather in crowds."

Mai blinked. Oh yeah. This girl was the one who put the nail underneath the sliding door. Still why was she blaming her headaches on them. "And your headaches are somehow our fault?" Mai shot back quickly, super confused. She couldn't remember much of this girl.

"Of course!" She snapped back haughtily and quickly crossed her arms. "When you tell ghost stories low level spirits come together, which summons bigger spirits which can be big trouble." She explained.

Mai thought back to her notes and remembered nothing of the sort written in there and narrowed her eyes at her. "We were telling ghost stories, not performing summoning rituals." She was becoming increasingly annoyed that she couldn't remember this girls name. She knew Lin's name almost immediately.

The black haired girl also seemed to be annoyed as she took a step closer to Mai. "I'm the spiritually sensitive one, you shouldn't question me."

"Listen, Kuroda, I'm saying your information is wack." Mai huffed and crossed her arms. Oh there it was. Kuroda was her name.

"If you're spiritually sensitive," A deep voice interrupted them and Shibuya Kazuya stepped into the classroom, charming smile in place. "Then do you sense anything with the old school house?" He questioned as he stared at Kuroda.

She took a step forward with a look of distaste. "Are you the one putting these girls up to telling ghost stories?" She questioned.

He tilted his head and his bangs brushed against his forehead. "Would you mind answering the question, I'm curious." Mai saw how Kuroda faltered and cast the blue eyed male a look of disbelief. He was using his looks to get what he wanted, what a creep!

Kuroda cleared her throat. "There are a lot of spirits gathered in the old school house who died from the war. I'm pretty sure that place was used as a hospital during that time."

Mai raised her eyebrow. "And I'm pretty sure that's not true. Was the old school house even built back..." Mai immediately faltered when Kazuya's eyes flashed towards her for a brief second and she suddenly felt like he was annoyed with her for interrupting Kuroda. She coughed awkwardly and motioned to Kuroda with her fingers, "Uh, never mind. Continue your story."

"I saw a lot of injured spirits there too." Kuroda nodded.

Kazuya hummed. "I wasn't aware there was a hospital here during the war," His eyes moved towards Mai slowly like he was making a point. "But it was built before the war, so maybe it was a medical school?"

Mai turned away in embarrassment, her cheeks turning hot.

Kuroda seemed to think that he was playing around with her and averted her eyes. "I don't know, but I do see spirits there!" She moved back a few steps as she stared at him accusingly. "Someone who isn't spiritually sensitive wouldn't understand."

Keiko, who had suddenly become quiet, spoke up nervously. "Shibuya-senpai, can we call off ghost stories today?" She asked timidly.

Michiru nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah I'm not in the mood anymore."

"No? Well then, another time." He gave them another smile which he seemed to use so often and Mai was glad this interaction with Kuroda was over with. Now if she could just sneak away for the time being then it would be great- "Oh, and Taniyama-san?" Mai froze as she was sneaking from the classroom and glanced over her shoulder at him in defeat. "Can I have a moment?"

"Why not..." Mai trailed off but her mind could think of a million reasons why not. He walked away without even waiting for her and she slowly followed after him. The two walked in silence down the hall for a few moments since everyone had already rushed home or to their after school activities by that point and she cast a look outside at the bright sun before looking down.

She watched as his shoes clinked against the tiled floors and sighed.

"How's Lin doing?" She asked tentatively and saw his feet stop against the floor and looked up as he turned around to stare at her. For a moment she thought he would say something but only continued stared at her blankly, not moving in inch. "What's wrong?"

Kazuya blinked. "How did you know his name was Lin?"

 _Crap_! Her stomach dropped when she realized she messed up. "You said his name yesterday," Mai quickly covered up and was shocked that her voice remained steady. She decided to play his little charade game and flashed him an innocent smile. "You guys must be close, you seemed very worried." She said sympathetically, tilting her head as she gazed up at him.

If he was put off by her sudden change in attitude he didn't show it. "He sprained his left leg and won't be able to stand for a while." He informed her, completely ignoring her last statement.

Mai thought of Lin and couldn't help but feel a little sorry, even if he was mean to her. She bowed to him, "I'm really sorry... I was just wondering why a camera was inside the building."

Kazuya sighed, "Yes, we were working there."

"Oh, you're his assistant?" Mai asked but she already knew the answer.

"No, he's the assistant and I'm the boss." His voice had risen a little and Mai took notice of how he suddenly seemed a little smug.

She widened her eyes purposely. "Ehhhhh? Really?" She really wanted to get away from him, he was making her uncomfortable. She had never met him in her life yet she knew so much about him. And he didn't even have a clue.

He nodded and crossed his arms, gaze suddenly feeling heavy. "Yes, and now I'm out of an assistant because he can't move. I think you have an obligation here." He told her calmly and Mai narrowed her eyes.

"Now hold on a minute-"

He cut her off. "The camera's broken, too. He was trying to stop you from touching a really expensive camera and he got injured in the process."

"Really expensive?" She repeated in disbelief. Who was this guy to try and guilt her!

"Yes, expensive." He seemed to take her words the wrong way and probably assumed she was distraught because she had no money and he continued on with a very well rehearsed script. "I'm considering that you can't afford this camera, and so I think there's only one option here." He met her eyes with one of his fake smiles. "You can be my assistant for the time being and I'll forget about the camera you broke."

This guy was unbelievable! He had controlled the conversation so efficiently so it would come in this direction that it was almost unnoticeable, but she knew that he was very calculating and so she saw right through his little act. If he thought he could manipulate her so easily he was wrong!

Mai managed to forge a curious look. "Expensive you said?"

He nodded. "Very."

"I'm assuming you're very smart, Shibuya-san." Mai tilted her head and she saw in the way his eyebrows narrowed that he was beginning to become suspicious and so she decided to hurry it up. "I'll take the silence as a yes. So Shibuya-san, what really smart person wouldn't get a really, verrrry, expensive camera insured?" She blinked up at him, changing her innocent smile into a smug smirk.

His jaw ticked.

HAH! SHE GOT HIM!

She let out a really dramatic sigh and placed her hand to her chest and tried to look pitiful. "Attempting to scam a broke high school student, how tragic." She shook her head before looking up at him. "Sorry to inform you, Shibuya Kazuya, but I'm not dumb!" She laughed and stuck her tongue out at him in victory.

Immediately the charade dropped and his eyes became cold, his voice no longer attempting to sound convincing and instead he stared at her blankly. "I can see from the way that you're sticking your tongue out like a five year old, that yes, you are very smart." He said to her and her tongue instantly went back into her mouth but she couldn't find it in herself to be embarrassed because she had won!

She watched as he walked past her and laughed, "Aha, you just got played!" She called after him smugly and watched with her hands on her hips and a big grin as he turned the corner.

Then it dawned on her.

He was supposed to trick her and then she would work with him! This wasn't how it was meant to be. She screwed up the timeline!

 _"Mai, you just played yourself!"_

* * *

It was evening and the sun was beginning to set when she decided to suck up her pride and fix her stupid mistake.

She watched from a far for a while as he sat in the black van, seeming to be occupied with something. It took her a long time to convinve herself but she decided that hiding and wasting time would only be worse, as he was originally gonna make her set up equipment. As she approached slowly he looked up and met her eyes through the window before pushing open the van door and stepping out.

"Taniyama-san." He greeted her.

Mai looked at the ground and dug her foot into the dirt nervously. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

His eyebrow quirked upwards. "Excuse me?"

She sucked in a deep breath before bowing at the waist. "I'm really sorry for earlier. It was rude of me to injury your assistant and then make fun of you." She slowly rose from her bow and met his eyes. "If you would still take me I would like to help you."

Suddenly his eyes didn't seem so cold anymore. "I accept your apology." He turned away and walked to the back of the van and she followed close behind. "I also shouldn't have attempted to deceive you. If I had known you weren't ignorant like I originally assumed I would have used a different method."

Mai choked on her spit. _Ignorant?_ She glared at the back of his head as he pulled open the back doors. How did he still manage to make her feel like the idiot despite all of her new knowledge? Still, it was weird because he had also admitted he was wrong. Did the person from her dream ever do that? No, if she remembered correctly he threw fits and ran away when things didn't go his way.

Maybe her relationship with him had shifted a little, cause she remembered he was very cold to her in the beginning but he already seemed alright with her. Something in their interactions made his opinion of her change a little. He obviously still thought that she was an idiot but the way he spoke to her was lighter now.

"First of all, I work for Shibuya Psychic Research and we investigate paranormal phenomenon." He started explaining to her and didn't bother to glance at her so she was thankful she didn't have to pretend a shocked expression. He began removing boxes from the back of the van. "A week ago the principle here hired us under the speculation that it was cursed, something which he heard through rumours." He turned around and placed a box and metal bars in her arms. "When I looked into the records I was able to verify that up until eighteen years ago while the old school house was still in use that there would be one or two deaths, every year."

"Every year? That's a lot." Mai frowned softly. She had no idea about the old school houses history.

He nodded and grabbed a box and moved to walk towards the building, and she followed after him. "The roof also collapsed while construction workers were working, but it was ruled as a work place accident." Mai wanted to tell him that no, it wasn't a work place accident, but the ground was collapsing in under neath the building. However that would only mess up the timeline and so she remained quiet.

They began walking up the stairs and he continued, "There was a teacher that committed suicide inside this building that was caused by stress, as written in his suicide note." The ground creaked beneath her and Mai glanced upwards uneasily, worried that the building would collapse even though she knew it wouldn't. He turned into a fairly large empty classroom and placed the things down on the desk at the front. "We'll set up base here. This is where we'll conduct all of our investigations and report back to." He told her, finally turning to stare at her.

Mai looked around. "Why couldn't we set up downstairs?"

"The classrooms there were too dirty."

"Ahh." She nodded in agreement and began placing her things down and finally got a good look at everything. "These are shelves." She observed before flashing him a happy look. "Do you want me to set them up for you? I really good at it!" She offered with a grin, for some reason excited. Setting up shelves for base was one of the odd little details she remembered from the dream.

He glanced at her over his shoulder as he walked to leave the empty classroom. "That's a very particular thing to be good at."

"O-oh!" Mai rubbed her neck in embarrassment when she realized that it did sound weird. "W-well I set up-" He was gone. Sighing softly, she rolled her eyes and moved to begin placing up the poles.

It was gonna be a long night.

* * *

She was right that it was a long night.

She had to play dumb while he explained to her what an infrared camera and an ultra-high-sensitivity camera was, even though she knew exactly what they were. She sighed in boredom and stared at him. "It's cool how you know all this at a young age." She brought up honestly, as she didn't know the reason why he was into such things.

He placed a camera at a certain angle. "Yes, well my brain works differently then yours." He stated.

Mai's eye twitched. "Wow, you're the full package. Smart and handsome!" She said sarcastically but watched him as he stopped what he was doing to glance over at her.

 _You think I'm handsome?_

He tilted his head. "You think I'm handsome?"

Mai smirked, she knew this conversation. "Well yeah, everyone was making a fuss earlier." She watched his expression and knew exactly was he was gonna say next. _You have good taste_. His lips opened and she smiled at him, "I know, I have good taste." She flicked her hair back smugly and wondered if he was surprised she knew what he was gonna say.

His expression remained blank and he blinked slowly. "You're very narcissictic."

"E-e-excuse me?" Mai stuttered in shock. Narcissistic?! SHE was the narcissistic one? He was the one boosting about how his 'brain worked differently' and being pleased that people thought he was handsome. Technically, her saying she had good taste was his own words! Well... not really since she said them.

He decided to ignore her outburst and instead went on with his work, and finally when the sky was dark and she was beginning to feel tired he turned to her. "That's all for today, I'll see you tomorrow."

Mai huffed and walked to the desk to grab her bag and said goodbye, to which he didn't reply, and then she was gone from there. She really hoped working with him would get easier. She still couldn't believe she was called ignorant and narcissistic in such a short span of time! Huffing in anger, Mai stopped and turned around to stare up at the old school building and pointed at the window where a light remained on.

"I'm not the narcissistic one!" She snapped angrily up at the empty space, imagining his smirk and shinning blue eyes. "You're Naru the Narcissist!"

* * *

 **So in the anime and the manga there's moments where Mai is really sassy, and so I think now that she is technically smarter then previously that she'll become a little more sassy then she was before.**

 **Also thank you for the previous reviews, the positive responses really inspired me:)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Saturday**_

Mai was having a dilemma.

Watching with a careful gaze as the blue eyes male moved about in back of the SPR van, she thought about her certain problem. Should she call him Naru the Narcissist, Shibuya Kazuya, or Oliver Davis? Placing her chin in her head she slowly tilted her head as she observed, deep in thought.

"Are you done staring?" He suddenly questioned causing her to jump in surprise since she didn't know he was aware of her presence yet.

She cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment. "Uh, good morning." She greeted and moved up behind him to stare at the computer screen. "What are you doing?" She asked as his fingers moved about the keyboard quickly, all of the graphs and numbers on the screen just giving her a headache as she looked at it. That was one thing she would never understand she guessed, the stats on the computers were confusing.

He moved his shoulder so she could see, "I'm checking yesterday's data, but nothing seems to be out of place."

 _That's cause the place isn't haunted_. Mai nodded. "Cool."

There was a click of heels against the ground. "That's some fancy equipment you got there." Mai couldn't help but let a little smirk as Matsuzaki Ayako, the red haired women stepped into the area with her hands on her hips and lips a dark red. "Maybe a little too fancy for a couple of kids to be playing with." She brushed her hair over her shoulder where Takigawa Houshou stood in all of his glory.

The blue eyed boy blinked, not fazed by their appearance. "And you are?'

She smiled slowly. "I'm Matsuzaki Ayako, the shrine maiden." Her eyes slowly traveled over his face carefully, checking out the younger boy without any shame. "The principle said he wasn't sure about you and so he called me in to drive out the spirits." Ayako stared at the both of them smugly and Mai stared back with a small frown, was this women always this arrogant? She couldn't remember.

Her boss blinked. "I was under the impression only innocent virgins could be shrine maidens."

Ayako's hands tightened into fists as she flashed him a harsh glare while the brown haired man behind her started cracking up, holding in his laughs. "And I don't seem that way to you?" She questioned through clenched teeth, attempting to hold in her anger.

Mai snorted, Ayako definitely did not look like an innocent virgin. She raised her eyebrows at the women."At the very least, I'd say you're getting a little too old to be calling yourself a maiden." She brought up and noticed how the monk could barely hold in his laughs anymore.

Ayako's eye twitched in irritation as she cast a dark look from the blue eyed boys blank stare to the brown haired girl's expectant gaze. "What a duo you two make, I wasn't aware kids these days were so rude!"

The younger male ignored her. "And you?" His eyes turned to the monk at Ayako's back. "I don't think your Matsuzaki-san's assistant."

"I'm a monk from mount Koya, my name is Takigawa Houshou." The bou-san explained with a friendly smile.

Mai watched as the male at her side continued with the questions, saving no ones dignity. "Since when were monks allowed long hair?"

"He's an apostate." Ayako mumbled underneath her breath, glad that the attention was finally off of her.

Bou-san's eyebrow twitched as he glared at her. "I-I've just come down from the mountain for a while!" He snipped back before turning his rath on the younger male. "Anyway, play time is over! You may have been hired cause your office was in a convenient place but the principle himself said it seemed like a scam to have someone young like you as the boss."

"Is that so." He replied obviously uninterested in anyone else's opinions.

Mai watched as her temporary boss completely ignored the two adults and went back to his own stuff and couldn't but think that he really rude.

Suddenly there was a voice right behind her as Kuroda interrupted her train of thoughts as she entered the already messy scene with her hand to her chest, seemingly ready for a drama. "Thank god you guys are here, the old school house is filled with spirits and they've been bugging me so much!" She said as she walked up to everyone and Mai watched her quietly. "These past months have been torture-"

"Grand stander." Ayako cut in quickly. "You're just looking for attention, I sense no spiritual energy are you."

Mai cringed and couldn't help but think about how Ayako's words would come back to bite her in the ass in only a short time, and as if on que Kuroda recoiled with a dark look in her eyes as she stared at the red haired women.

"You'll regret that. I'm going to summon an evil spirit to haunt you." She practically seethed before turning around and walking away.

For second Mai watched her school mate walk away before turning to look at the school house in her attempt at seeming distracted while she thought of the timeline. She didn't have her notebook so she could check if she was hitting any points in the timeline but everything seemed to be going well. The red head was here, the monk was here, and Noll was here.

Mai stopped in thought of the voice suddenly ringing inside her head

 _Noll_.

"Naru." No that wasn't right, her accent made the name sound different.

"What did you just say."

Mai jumped in surprise when her boss suddenly stood, staring at her intently. "Excuse me?"

His eyes narrowed. "Where did you hear that name?"

Noll. Right she wasn't supposed to know about that. "I, uh..." Mai swallowed nervously, her heart rate suddenly speeding up as she nervously met his eyes. Naru the Narcissist. "You know? Naru the Narcissist. Not the first time you've been called that?" She gave him a really uneasy smile but in his distracted state he didn't seem to notice.

Naru turned away without saying anything after a while and she guessed that he accepted her answer.

A distraction eased her worries as the principle suddenly appeared before them with a big smile while a blond haired male stood at his side. "Hey, everyone! I want you guys to meet John Brown."

"How's it going?" John bowed lowly and Mai's eyes widened in shock at his unexpected countryside accent. "My name is John Brown and I'm from Australia." Still despite accent to his Japanese his eyes were bright and inviting as he stared at them openly and Mai couldn't help but smile back.

Ayako and Bou-san, the immature people, were bent over laughing and the principle forced a smile awkwardly. "You see, Brown-san learned Japanese in Kasai and so he speaks with an accent." He explained carefully.

Ayako snorted loudly as she stared at the blond. "And you're a spiritualist too?" She managed to get out between laughs and Mai smugly thought that she wouldn't be laughing in a few seconds because he was an exorcist, and that was a pretty big deal considering the difficulty it took to become one.

John smiled innocently. "Yes, I'm what you call an exorcist."

The adults stopped laughing. Naru suddenly seemed very interested in the blond and stood, "You're not supposed to drive out evil spirits unless you're a Catholic priest or better. You seem a little young for that." He observed.

"You sure know you're stuff." John seemed pretty pleased with that as his smile brightened and Mai's heart warmed. Could this guy get even more innocent? "I'm actually 19 years old."

Mai watched has Naru nodded slowly before the principle announced that he had some business to get to and she turned to watch their old group that suddenly seemed to come together so quickly. A shrine maiden, an apostate monk, an exorcist, a psychic researcher, and a girl who already knew things before they happened. She snorted to herself softly as she thought what an odd bunch they were already, and they still had more people to add.

It was weird to look at these people and know that they would all become family to one another at some point.

Yet they had no idea, and Mai found that thought to be a little lonely.

* * *

"AHHHH!"

Mai practically jumped two feet in the air at the scream that rang throughout the building. "Oh right." She breathed in relief as she remembered that it was probably just Ayako stuck in a room because of a nail in the floor. Damn, she really needed to have her notebook with her at all times, despite writing down everything she totally forgot what order everything happened in.

They got to the scene just as Bou-san was about the kick the door in. "Get back, Ayako!" He yelled through the door.

He was helping her and yet the women managed to find something to complain about. "Don't you call me so familiarly!" She snapped back in a muffled voice, seeming a little displeased that Bou-san had dropped the honorifics so quickly after meeting each other.

The door was kicked in and as the wood fell away, the nail in the floor was revealed and Mai glanced behind her when she suddenly remembered something. Kuroda. Ah crap. Turning away without looking to see if Ayako was aright she quickly ran up the stairs back to the base where she hoped she could catch Kuroda erasing the tapes. Mai didn't see any harm in trying to get this case solved a bit sooner, and stopping Kuroda's antics would help that.

Mai swung around the door frame and bumped right into the girl causing her to yelp in surprise, eyes widening. "T-Taniyama-san." She stuttered nervously.

Mai narrowed her eyes. "What were you just doing?"

"Nothing." Kuroda snapped back in defense.

"You're a liar, what are you even doing here-" Mai gasped as she was shoved back harshly, palms sliding against the wooden floor. "Ow, what the..." She flinched as she looked up at the black haired girl and saw that she was staring down at her with very cold eyes.

"I'm not a liar." She hissed before leaning closer to Mai with a threatening look. "And I wasn't doing anything in here, so keep you're mouth shut or you'll regret it." She whispered to her before stepping over the smaller girl and storming down the hall.

Mai managed to let out the breath that she was holding in unconsciously and stared at the place where she left. No something was really wrong with this situation. "Kuroda was never that mean." Mai breathed to herself in shock as she remembered the threatening look. Something had changed in that girl drastically. _You'll regret it_. Any other situation of someone threatening her and Mai wouldn't be afraid to talk back, but Kuroda stuck to her words with Ayako and so there was no telling what she would do to Mai if she said anything.

"Mai." A deep voice made her jump and she glanced to the side to find Naru standing a small distance down the hall from her, staring at her blankly. "What are you doing on the ground."

Mai scrambled to stand up and gave him a smile. "Oh nothing, I just tripped. Ha ha." She hoped she didn't sound too awkward but of course from his unmoving facial expressions she could never tell what he was thinking. The other three coming around the corner interrupted them and she was grateful for the distraction as they all moved into the base.

Naru wasted no time. "Can you explain what happened?'

Ayako gave him a small glare. "Shortly after I walked into the classroom to look around the door slammed shut behind me and it wouldn't open, that's about it." She explained and pushed her hair over her shoulder. "There is definitely something here." She nodded confidently.

"No, there isn't."

Everyone jumped at the new voice in the conversation and Mai glanced upwards, immediately her stomach dropped and she flew backwards. "GHOST!" She screeched in terror.

Naru's hand slipped around her wrist and he yanked her upwards to stop her from falling, turning to her with an annoyed look. "It's a person, Mai." He informed her and Mai stilled, turning to look and sure enough it was a person and not a ghost.

Goddamn it, she really needed that notebook. Why did she think it was a good idea to leave it at home in the first place?

Hara Masako, in all of her beauty and gracefulness, stepped into the classroom quietly. "I sense no presence here in this building."

Bou-san's eyes light up in recognition at the girl. "You're that TV medium aren't you? Hara Masako." He blinked and glanced around at the others. "This principle must not have any confidence in our abilities to call in a famous person like her."

Masako completed ignored the others and set her eyes on Naru quite quickly, her eyes carefully roaming his face and she took a step towards him. "Have I had the pleasure of meeting you before?" She asked softly, tilting her head. Mai blanched. Of course she attempt to warm up to Naru immediately. Even if she did happen to know who he really was, the way that her eyes observed him had that twinkle that every girl had when they first saw him.

Physical attraction.

"No, this is our first time meeting." Naru stated carefully.

Ayako placed her hands on her hips. "I think it's an earth spirit."

"I think it's a site bound spirit." Bou-san disagreed.

Mai raised her eyebrows with a scoff as she glanced at them. "Oh really? And how did you deduct that from being here for a half an hour?" The two adults turned her way. "Well?"

Ayako narrowed her eyes but she seemed a little put off. "Don't question a professional." She snipped before walking towards the door. "Anyway, I'm gonna drive out the spirit myself so just watch- whoa!" She stopped when Kuroda suddenly appeared from no where, once again looking very dark.

"Are you sure you can drive it out?" She questioned quietly before turning to the others. "I was attacked earlier, the spirit is strong."

Mai recoiled from the area where Kuroda was as the others questioned her and she explained that she was walking around when she was attacked on the third floor, but Mai knew that it was all a lie and Hara Masako seemed to think the same thing, and she voiced that opinion quite clearly. But the cameras were checked anyway and as expected, just as she was about to be attacked as she claimed she was, the camera footage cut off.

Mai stared at the static blankly. "Great timing, huh." She muttered lowly to herself in a sarcastic manner and started when she saw that Naru glanced over towards her, having heard her.

Kuroda placed her hand to her chest. "Don't you see how strong the spirit is?" She questioned and then suddenly zoomed in on Mai with a dark expression. "Didn't I tell you before about the ghost stories? This is all your fault." She accused strongly causing everyone to turn towards the brown haired girl in confusion, wondering what she was talking about.

Now completely annoyed, Mai took a step forward to meet Kuroda's eyes. "Save the dramatics." She shot back quickly before walking past her to Masako's side and hooking her arm around hers, catching the medium off guard. Mai gave her a sweet smile and ignored everyone's shocked looks at her rude comment to Kuroda. "Wanna take another walk around? Just to double check."

Masako blinked. "I'm not-"

"Great, let's go!" Mai grinned widely and pulled her from the classroom. If she remembered correctly Masako fell from the building through a weak part in the wood when she leaned against it and even it if was in the timeline Mai personally thought that it was unnecessary, and so if she could save someone from being hurt she wouldn't hesitate. "My name's Taniyama Mai by the way." She introduced herself.

Masako barely even glanced at her. "I see."

The walk was supppper awkward. Mai might even go as far to say that Masako didn't really like her.

Mai sighed. "I guess some things can't be avoided."

"Excuse me?"

Mai looked up to find Masako was staring at her. "Huh?"

Masako frowned, placing her kimono sleeve over her mouth to hide the curve in her lips. "You said something-ah." Her shoe got caught and she stumbled to the side, placing her hand against the wall to steady herself and Mai jumped forward with wide eyes.

"Wait!" But it was too late. The wood fell away and Masako was falling but Mai managed to grab onto both of her hands in time, the weight of the medium as she hung out of the building pulled Mai into the floor and she lay there helplessly holding Masako by the hands as she hung over nothing. "Masako are you okay?" Mai asked in a panic as wind smacked against her face.

Masako clenched her hands tighter, face pale and eyes wide as she stared up at her. "Pull me up!"

"Yeah, I'm trying!" Mai clenched tighter while attempting to pull but her hands were super slippery. "Urg, I can smell that awful lotion your wearing."

"Excuse me!" Masako huffed angrily up at Mai. "You're really insulting me on my lotion in this situation!"

Mai glared down at her as her hands slipped a little more. "Yes I am! Because that stupid lotion is making your hand slippery and if you fall at this level then who knows what'll happen to that pretty face of yours!"

"You're incredibly rude!" Masako snapped back at Mai.

There were quick foot steps from behind and Mai sighed in relief as Bou-san came flying around the corner with wide eyes, reaching them quickly and grabbing a hold of Masako's wrist over Mai and easily pulling the petite girl back to safety. "Are you guys okay? We saw you in the camera." Bou-san looked over the both of them quickly to make sure they weren't bleeding to death.

Mai saw the others standing the side and turned away to stare at Masako. "Yeah the wall caved in when Masako leaned against it, I think it was rotting." She brought up and turned to the medium to see if she was really okay but stopped when she saw that she was already giving her a displeased look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Masako stuck her chin up. "No reason."

Okay this was ridiculous. It was like even if she tried to change things they somehow ending up happening anyway. Masako seemed to already hate her for absolutely not reason and even if she tried to avoid Masako falling it still somehow happened.

She discreetly turned her eyes to Naru.

Mai wanted to tell Naru about the dream. It would be easier and with would lesson the loneliness she was feeling with the situation, but it didn't feel right if she did that. From the dream she saw that although he was cold, he was someone that she seemed to have faith in and he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Yet she had only just met him a short while ago and she couldn't find it in herself to tell him her biggest secret.

Weird dreams that tell you the future just don't suddenly make things easier and in the end of it all, all of these people were still strangers to her. Even though she knew things about them that they didn't know, it didn't mean she really knew them just yet. Kind of like reading a wikapedia page on a celebrity didn't make you the best of friends with them.

She needed to build a relationship with them and she needed to get closer to Naru, because she wanted to trust him enough. She needed to trust him with the secret because the internet provided her with nothing of premonition that resembled hers and what was the point of all this knowledge if she didn't know why she had it? She knew Naru would help her figure it out eventually, but building a relationship with him was the biggest problem.

The dude was a freaking ice cube. She definitely had her work cut out for her.

* * *

 **Soooo yeah, that happened. I'm sorry this chapter was mostly just reintroducing everyone again so it's kind of boring, but I'm surprised at how quickly people are responding to this fanfic. It usually takes a couple of days for the reviews to roll in but you guys are awesome, so thank you for that.  
Also **Rosedream **, you totally called it on the whole Noll\Naru name confusion. You were spot on with what I had planned out.**


	4. Chapter 4

Mai nervously paced back and forth. "Listen, I think we should really listen to Masako here." She began in her attempt at convincing the others that John didn't need to perform any kind of purifying ritual. The ceiling would cave in on him if he did that and Mai couldn't exactly say that out loud to everyone without any explanation. "I honestly think there is another explanation for everything that's happening here."

Ayako huffed in irritation. "He's doing it and that's final." Her statement was the final word and the priest gave Mai a reassuring smile as he left the room in his robe.

Mai along with the others moved towards the screens as John made his appearance in one of the cameras and she anxiously bit her lip as she watched carefully. Okay if she reacted quick enough then she would be able to warn him in time but what if something changed here? What if it came immediately or when she wasn't prepared.

"Our Father, Who art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth..." John started calmly as he flicked holy water around the empty space in front of him before opening his bible slowly. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." _Creeeak_. Jon paused for a moment and then took a breath. "The Word was in the beginning with God, all things were made by the Word; and without the Word was not anything made that was made." More creaking and noise the wood made in the room became louder through the speakers as Mai turned the volume up, no longer focusing on John but on the ceiling above.

Gut feeling, she had to wait for that gut feeling that she got every time something important was going to happen.

The ceiling boards above John began sinking in like it was holding something heavy. _Now_. Mai moved quickly, pushing past everyone else in the room and ignoring the way they called out for her in a panic, taking the steps two at a time and sliding around the corner towards the classroom.

She slammed the door open, "John move, the ceilings caving in!" She screamed and John looked up, eyes widening in shock before he made his move towards her but there was another creak before the wood above him cracked and everything above him fell, filling up the space with dust and debris. "John!" Was she too late? Did he not make it out unhurt?

A hand grabbed her wrist through the smoke and John came into her view with his hand to his nose. "Mai-san." He coughed out, "Let's move quickly in case the floor decides to cave in as well." Mai breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded, putting her arm around his shoulders to help him move to the other end of the hall where they met them.

Bou-san scanned the both of them before relaxing. "Oh thank god, from the monitors it look like both of you got hurt." He told him before smiling. "I'm sorry, we were so focused on John that we didn't bother looking at the ceiling." He glanced at Mai and reached forward, his long fingers brushing her hair up messily. "Good thing Mai spotted it though." He gave her a thumbs up and Mai blinked up at him curiously, her hand going to her hair were his hand was previously.

Was he already warming up to her?

Naru crossed his arms as he moved past them towards the room. "If the floor was going to cave in it would have happened by now." He explained briefly seeing that Mai was going to protest him heading towards the area so soon. "I want to just take a look." And so he went off on his one, being his usual closed in self and not explaining any of his suspicions as he moved about the debris.

He stayed and everyone else went home, working alone as he always did.

* * *

 _ **Sunday**_

"So you're really leaving?! What about the thing that attacked me?" Kuroda was throwing a fit.

Mai cautiously glanced over her shoulder at her as she unplugged the monitors and started wrapping up the wires neatly, packing up everything as Naru was planning to leave. When everyone showed up at lunch he explained to them that it was land subsidence and that all of the movement last night was because the old school building had sank a little. Mai already knew all of this but she hadn't said anything and instead remembered her notebook, mentally crossing off another tick in her timeline.

 _Naru figures out the case_

Looking around to see if she missed any wires she suddenly caught her school mates eyes. "What?"

Kuroda narrowed her brows together and Mai could tell what she was going to say wasn't pleasant. "What about you, huh? Didn't you save that phony medium from falling?" She suddenly brought up and moved closer. "There's something here, I know there is!"

Mai swallowed her saliva nervously and took a step back to keep the space between them as she remembered her cold eyes as she threatened her. "Uhm, I think Naru's right. I mean you can't deny something that has clear proof and everything that's happened so far can contribute to the fact that the school house is sinking. It's not haunted." She finished off on a strong note.

Kuroda glared harshly and shook her head. "No, there is something here!"

Naru seemed to have enough and turned to her with cold eyes. "I think my work here is done, but if you feel it's necessary why not use your spiritual sensitivity and solve the problem yourself."

Mai cringed. That was a low blow.

Suddenly there was the sound of glass crumbling and everyone glanced up in shock and almost a second later the glass directly behind Kuroda shattered, spreading glass all throughout the room. Kuroda screamed in terror and then the doors were slamming shut and the floor beneath them began to rumbled. In the panic of all of it, Mai suddenly remembered something.

 _"Many poltergeist cases revolve around an adolescent, especially young girls, who seek for attention."_

Despite the ground shifting beneath her feet and the panic around her, Mai managed to make her way to where Kuroda still lay on the ground with wide terrified eyes. "Kuroda!" Mai reached her and immediately grabbed her shoulders harshly, shaking her roughly to get her attention. The desks in the room with them began moving and Mai realized she had to hurry. "Kuroda, look at me!" Mai waited and eventually she got the girls attention. "Calm down."

Kuroda's expression faltered. "W-what?"

Mai gave her a stern look and gripped her shoulders tighter. "I said calm down, you're going to get someone seriously hurt if you don't calm down."

Bou-san kicked the door down behind them and that seemed to snap Kuroda out of what ever calmness she had reverted to and Mai cursed as the shaking and the movement in the old school building only continued. "We have to get out of here!" Bou-san yelled over to them and Mai pulled up the black haired girl with her, realizing it would be useless to try to talk her down.

They all ran together, going down the stairs and running to the nearest door, all with the ground beneath them still rumbling. By the time they made it outside Mai had let go of Kuroda and decided to take a look at the situation, heading to the SPR van where she had left her bag, unzipping it and pulling out the notebook.

She looked at the points in the timeline.

 _Naru get's angry and runs off_

She looked up and saw that Ayako and Bou-san were getting upset, questioning him on his land subsidence theory and then storming away after they made their points. She turned to see Naru and saw that he was quietly standing off to the side with his hands clenched into fists and even though she could not see his face she knew that he was staring ahead coldly, face void of any emotion.

"Are you okay?" She asked out of habit before her eyes roamed down to find that blood was dripping from his hand. "You're hurt!"

He pulled his hand away before she could touch him. "I'm fine. It's only a cut."

Mai frowned and stole a look at his face before reaching forward, yanking his hand from his side to her line of vision, ignoring the glare he sent her way as she ignored his protest and instead rolled up his sleeve slightly. The side of his wrist was cut, not too deep but deep enough that it wouldn't stop bleeding without medical attention. "It's more than just a cut." Mai huffed and tried to focus on everything else but his oddly cold hand.

By the time she got out the first aid kit from the SPR van he seemed to have calmed down enough to stop clenching his teeth together and she brought his hand to her lap, unraveling the bandages and putting ointment on the cut before wrapping it. It was a little sloppy but it was tight and quite okay for her first try.

She smiled. "There, good as new..." Mai paused when she looked up and found he was staring at her. She immediately felt defensive for no reason. "What?"

He pulled his hand away slowly but his eyes remained, staring at her carefully. "You're an odd girl." He simply stated before standing up and leaving before she could protest.

Mai suddenly froze. Ehhh. He had left her alone with Kuroda.

Gulping nervously, Mai slowly turned around with narrowed eyes to glance over her shoulder before practically jumping a foot in the air when she saw that the girl was already staring at her, her glasses glinted against the sunlight and hiding her eyes from vision. She stood motionless but no doubt she'd been there the whole time.

Kuroda tilted her head. "Maybe he's not a sucker for a pretty face." She suddenly thought out loud.

"Excuse me?" Mai frowned in confusion and suddenly felt like she should be running away right about now, considering that this girl had threatened her.

Kuroda took a step forward and the glare against her glasses disappeared, revealing her eyes which were observing Mai from top to bottom. "I thought he'd been nice to Hara Masako since yesterday because she was pretty-" Mai cringed when she realized that she had thought the same thing, that the narcissistic Naru had been taken with Masako and so he was polite with her. Kuroda continued, a smirk curving her lips. "-But he's oddly warmed up to you, calling you by your first time and letting you touch him. Maybe I was wrong." The black haired girl turned away and began walking.

Mai blinked before letting her words sink in before her eyes widened. "Did you just call me ugly?!" She called after her in disbelief.

Kuroda glanced over her shoulder. "Well I'm not calling you pretty."

Mai's jaw dropped in utter shock. She was not ugly!

...Or was she just narcissistic like Naru had said?

* * *

It was night by the time that Bou-san decided he was going to perform a ritual, in which he did.

Mai stared upstairs, "I think we should set one microphone up there." She suddenly said out of nowhere. That gut feeling again.

John tilted his head. "You think?" She nodded and so John went upstairs with a single mic and Mai watched him disappear around the corner before turning to the front doors. Now if she remembered correctly Kuroda showed up again and- The front doors slid open and Mai smirked before remembering that the girl had basically called her ugly earlier in the day.

Kuroda walked in calmly, her expression showing no indication she was bothered. "Anything new?" She asked. Mai gave her a dirty look but before she could say anything insulting two pairs of footsteps made them look to the side where they saw Ayako and Bou-san heading towards them, the latter no longer dressed up in the monk clothing.

Bou-san smirked. "This place is clean now, my exorcism was successful." He said as he stopped in front of them.

Kuroda clenched her teeth together and shifted away from him, "No they're still here. I can feel it." She stubbornly insisted.

"You're still at that?" Ayako scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I seriously think you need-"

 _Thump. Thumpthump._

Everyone stood still at the sudden noises coming from above, each of them listening carefully to the footsteps. Mai swallowed nervously and knew that even though it was a poltergeist caused by Kuroda, it was still very creepy to hear.

Bou-san stepped forward towards the stairs and quickly ran up them, turning the corner and looking around with narrowed eyes. "Is anybody up here?! This isn't a joke." He snapped angrily before they all listened in silence. Nothing. Bou-san slowly walked back down the stairs towards them and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Must have imagined it."

Mai let her mouth drop in total disbelief. "Rigggght, because we all imagined the same exact thing." She placed her hands on her hips. "That sure makes perfect sense." She tilted her head in a challlenging way and her hair shifted against her shoulder.

Bou-san frowned. "I'm just trying to make sense of it." He defended weakly.

"You're shameless." Mai shook her head and gave Ayako a stare to tell her that she meant her as well. "The excorism failed. Again."

"Well I don't see your boss here to do anything!" Ayako argued.

Mai paused. "You're right. But-" Before she could finish whatever crappy reply she was gonna say the footsteps staring again, this time right above their heads and everyone came to a silent pause as they followed the noise on the ceiling with their eyes as it moved closer and closer to the stairs. _Thump_. It stopped right at the top of the stairs and everyone stared at the empty space.

John reached forward to place his hand on Mai's shoulders. "We should leave right now." Soon after he finished his sentence the light bulbs above them burst, sending glass flying into their hair and the footsteps above them increased until it sounded like multiple people were running around the hall upstairs.

The ground rumbled beneath them and Mai wasn't sure if it was Kuroda's doing or the school house sinking, but she wouldn't take the chance. "Let's go!" She screamed and everyone moved at once, running towards the exits close to each other.

Mai stumbled and John hooked his hand around her arm, pulling her up and she mentally remembered to thank him afterwards, like take him out to tea or buy him a small gift- was she really thinking about that at this particular moment? She shook her head to focus on getting to safety before she suddenly felt like her feet were heavy and her head was light.

 _"Stay back!"_

 _She hit the ground harshly, watching dust fly up the vicinity as the shelf fell atop of him._

Mai was slammed with deja vu as she realized this was the place where Lin had been injured and as she turned to the left she saw that something was heading towards her. She screamed but it was too late. John's hand slipped away from her and the shelf slammed into her shoulder harshly, pushing her to the ground and blackening her vision.

Her last thought that it must have been Lin, using his omnyoji skills to curse her as payback.

* * *

 _Her eyes opened but she immediately knew that something was wrong. A hand, cold as ice was against her forehead._

 _"Naru." She said in surprise before noticing the area around them. It was black and white orbs were floating above them, heading up. Mai blinked and observed the blue eyes, alight with sympathy. "You're not Naru."_

 _He smiled and pushed her down so she was laying once more. "You should get some rest."_

 _Mai saw the way his face was smooth and how his bangs were longer, a slightly younger version of Naru. She reached upwards to place her hand against his and suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes. "I know who you are... you're name... I can't remember."_

 _He simply smiled._

 ** _Monday_**

Mai sat up before her eyes were even open all the way, getting extremely lightheaded.

"Whoa, relax there kiddo." Bou-san grinned down at her and helped her sit up. "You took a hit back there, you sure you're okay to sit up?"

"Yeah." Mai nodded in thanks and looked at the sky and noticed the horizen. "What's the time?"

"It's 4AM." Ayako informed her and Mai groaned loudly.

"Urg, I have school today." She mumbled and ran her hand through her hair tiredly. She would have to go all the way home and there was no point in going back to sleep by then. Maybe she could shower and take extra time to work on her appearance, show Kuroda that she wasn't ugly. She would probably take that grudge to her grave, she had never been called ugly before so it was a big blow to her pride.

Ayako's heel clicked against the cement as she glanced at the old school house. "You know, I was thinking maybe we should start thinking about our safety here." She suddenly brought up and glanced specifically at Mai. "I mean this spirit doesn't seem to be wielding to anything."

Bou-san's jaw dropped as he stared at the red head. "You mean give up?"

"Ehhhh?" Mai's eyes widened and she let out a laugh, causing the older women to blush in embarrassment. "You're thinking of running away?"

Ayako's eye twitched and she jabbed a finger in Mai's directly. "Might I mind you it was your boss who ran away first!"

"You know..." John started with his chin in his hand. "Naru probably got angry and went home to make up some straw effigy dolls, don't you think?"

Everyone paused. Then tilted their heads as they all immediately imagined Naru at home, angrily making up voodoo dolls to curse them with. Almost like they were all in sync, everyone burst out laughing.

Soon after Mai announced that she was heading home and was on her way, walking in the morning dew with her arms wrapped tightly around her bag as she shivered. She hated how mornings were always colder than the rest of the day. When she finally made it home she had a much needed shower and blow dried her hair so it wasn't so all over the place like it was when it air dried and then took a replacement hair clip that was white to pin the side of her bangs back with since her red one was still missing.

She left at her usual time and took time walking slowly, enjoying the warmer weather.

The DC president drilled a hole through her head as she passed the front gates. "Taniyama-san, you're early today." He greeted calmly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose causing them to glint against the sun.

Mai cautiously bowed her head to him briefly. "Y-yes, good morning." She replied before walking quicker, making it to her classroom after only a few minutes.

Keiko and Michiru greeted her immediately with worried faces. "Mai, I heard something bad happened to you last night!"

"What, how do you know that?" Mai leaned her face away from Keiko's when she got a little too close and stared at them in confusion.

Michiru glanced over her shoulder and Mai saw Kuroda in the back of the classroom surrounded by a bunch of people. "Kuroda's been bragging about it all morning."

Keiko nodded eagerly and her face lit up in a blush. "A-and Shibuya-san called us last night. He asked a lot of questions about Kuroda and the old school house."

Mai blinked. Oh yeah. She pulled out her notebook and ignored her friends confused faces and saw the point next in line.

 _Hypnotize thing_

She suddenly felt embarrassed at herself for her really vague and short points, but she was in a rush so she couldn't help it.

The principle peeked his shiny bald head into the classroom. "Mai and Kuroda, can you place come with me to the office?" The chatter in the classroom stopped and Mai quickly made her exit to avoid the extra attention and the two students walked with him to the office, where the rest of team sat in chairs in the shape of a semi-circle.

Kuroda shoved past her. "What's going on here?"

Naru stood in the front of the room, the sun behind him silhouetting his figure and Mai moved to one of the open seats, staring at him as his features suddenly came into focus. "This is everyone involved with the case, so we'll be staring now." He turned away without even glancing at Mai in greeting and pulled the curtains closed, blackening the room.

A red light lit up the space around them, fading on and off slowly like a pulse.

Naru's deep voice filled the silence. "Focus on the light, match you're breathing to it." Mai did as he told and suddenly her body was reminded of all the extra sleep time she lost. "Slowly now...relax your shoulders..."

Mai felt like yawning. _No problem, Naru_. She said mentally and relaxed her shoulders, her eyes drooping as she stared at the light, her breathing in sync with it.

"...Tonight, the chair on the second floor in the old school house will move."

 _Chair?_

The curtains flew open and Mai jolted.

"Very good. Thanks for your time." Naru nodded stiffly and Mai didn't feel tired anymore. The others filed out slowly and Naru packed his things up swiftly, slinging the bags over his shoulder and walking past them into the hall. Mai followed after him quickly and struggled to keep up with his fast paced steps.

"Naru, how's your hand?" She asked.

He didn't glance back at her. "Don't you have class to go to?"

"Not really." Mai shrugged and continued following him down the hall.

"You must like being stupid." He commented blankly and Mai stopped.

"Stupid?!" She repeated and then huffed, crossing her arms. "You must really enjoy insulting me." Ignorant, narcissistic, and now stupid? Not to mention Kuroda had added ugly to that list.

Naru finally stopped, glancing over his shoulder at her with calm blue eyes. "Not particularly." His eyes suddenly traveled from her face to her hair where her hair clip was pinned in.

Mai raised her hand to it in defense. "What."

He blinked and turned away. "Nothing." He made it to the front door and began placing on his outdoor shoes. "I'll see you after school." He said before disappearing out the door.

"Jerk." Mai huffed.

* * *

"Taniyama, you're on cleaning duty today!"

Mai glanced up with wide eyes from her bag to where her classmate stood at the door. "What?"

He nodded and pointed to the chalk board. "Yep, sensei wrote it right there." He shrugged and left, leaving Mai to stare at where her name was indeed placed under the duty for cleaning duty.

Sighing and placing her bag down on her desk she began moving about the classroom and placing the chairs up on their desks so she could sweep easily. That was the longest part and she found herself cursing her classmates mentally as she found crumpled up notes and broken pencils scattered about the floor that she had to clean up.

She knew that clean up duty was the schools way of teaching their students responsibility but it was a burden on students who had to work and do after school club activities and study. It would be so much easier if they had janitors like American schools did, plus it would give someone a paying job! It was a win win situation. Maybe she should take it up with the school board.

She amused herself with such thoughts to avoid thinking badly about her classmates and finished up with cleaning the chalk board erasers, leaning out the window and hacking up her lungs as she slammed the two erasers together, creating a cloud around her as little chalk dusts flew up into the air. Pulling her arms back and placing the erasers back on the board she grabbed her bag and walked out of the classroom briskly.

Naru was in the back of the SPR van when she arrived with the headphones over his ears. He looked up as she approached. "Who placed the microphone on the second floor?" He asked before she even had the chance to greet him.

"I did." Mai said nervously. Was he angry?

He glanced away. "Good job." He commented and took the headphones off, closing the laptop afterwards. "It picked up some interesting sounds." He began as he stood slowly turning to her and suddenly stopping.

Whats his problem? Why was he staring at her. Before she could ask he reached forward and suddenly grabbed her wrist, bringing her arm upwards and wiping her sleeve across her face.

Mai pulled away bewildered and he let go of her. "What was that for?"

He smirked. "You had chalk on your face." Mai glanced down at her sleeve where white chalk was wiped and looked up at him suspiciously. He was being oddly nice to her. She had no doubt in her mind that if he was in a bad mood he would let her walk around with the markings on her face and not tell her.

John suddenly approached them, smiling happily. "Mai is here too."

Naru nodded. "Let's get started." All business now he walked into the old school building and like Mai suspected, he had placed a single chair in the middle of a classroom and drew a circle around the area it was placed in. Shortly after that he worked Mai and John like total slaves. He had them set up a microphone and a night vision camera which faced the chair, and then had the two of them board up the all the windows with ply wood, doing the same thing to the door.

Mai huffed out laboured breaths as she slammed the last nail into the wood. "All done!"

Naru turned and gave her a red marker. "Sign your name on all of the boards." Mai snatched the marker from his hand angrily and both she and Jon wrote their names on the boards and then finally, a piece of blank paper tapped over the middle of where two boards met.

She turned to Naru, chucked the marker at him and began leaving. She was so tired, her arms were sore and she uncomfortably felt the sweat on the back of her neck.

She suddenly stopped and checked the time. _8PM_. She immediately turned back around to the Australian priest and smiled sweetly, a big contrast to the glare she provided Naru with when she'd chucked the marker at him. "Hey John, did you want to go out for tea?" She asked him and saw in the way his eyes widened that he was shocked. "It's a thank you for always helping me."

His eyes softened and he smiled back at her. "Yes, of course I'd like to go out for tea." He said gratefully before turning to the black haired boy who still seemed to be working on something. "Did you want to come for tea?"

Naru paused and for a moment Mai thought he might say yes, but of course it was only hopeful thinking. "No thank you." Was as he said before he turned away.

With his refusal the two said their goodbyes and made it out of the building, walking down the street slowly Mai and John eventually made their way to a small cafe near her school and took a seat at one of the two seater tables, ordering their different kinds of tea and waiting.

The tea arrived just as they began talking about religion.

Mai tilted her head. "Hmm, I've never gone to church before." She answered his question and John nodded slowly.

"You've never had an interest in religion?" He asked curiously and blew on his tea softly.

Mai shook her head and thought back to her late parents. "My dad died when I was young and my mom had a really hard time with bills and raising me, and so she had this idea that if God really existed he would have helped her out." Mai breath in the scent of the tea and smiled softly.

John nodded carefully and thought back. "Yes, there a many cases were people lose faith in situations like that. I understand." Suddenly he observed Mai very closely. "Is your mom still having a hard time?"

Mai didn't feel uncomfortable, surprisingly. She was in her first year of high school and even now when her friends brought up her mom she always got nervous and uncomfortable, the subject of her mom having been something that still continued to affect her. Yet speaking with John now there wasn't that feeling. "No, I assume she's in peace." John paused. "She passed away in my second year of middle school."

"I see, forgive me." John gave her a gentle smile and met her eyes. "Do you live with relatives?"

"No, none of my parents had any siblings or other relatives that were alive when they passed away. I had a teacher in middle school who let me live with her for a while, but after a while I started receiving money from the government and so I have my own apartment now." Mai explained calmly, an oddly warm feeling settling in her chest as she spoke freely.

"I don't mean to be intruding but do you personally believe in any religion?" John gave her an apologetic smile and turned his tea cup in his hand.

Mai thought for a moment before nodding slowly. "I don't believe in any specific religion but I do believe that there is a God. A higher power of some sort." Mai thought to the strange dream that gave her knowledge to the future. "There are things that have happened to me that I can't really explain, and I don't think science has an explanation for it either."

John took a long sip of his tea, his eyes remaining on her and nodded along like he understood. "I was just thinking that you've been through a lot. And people who go through such things like you usually have much sadder eyes." Mai blinked in surprise, her fingers tightening around her cup and he smiled at her. "Usually people get over loss with time but the wound remains, then they usually turn to something that gives them strength. Things like family or religion."

Mai realized why he was suddenly curious. She had none of those things.

John let out a breath. "You have lots of faith in yourself and a very strong mentality." He reached forward and placed his hands over hers. "I know you don't believe in any specific God, but there's a verse in the bible that I feel really relates to you."

"Oh." Mai nodded, unsure of how to respond and even though John was usually kind of awkward he seemed like he was in his element at the moment.

He continued. " _When you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing_." He finished the verse and pushed his tea out of the way so he could grab her other hand. "I think that you have a lot to grow, and that all the hard times will help you in trials ahead of you, whatever they may be." He suddenly let out a little laugh and glanced around them nervously. "I don't mean to be a bother Mai, but may I pray for you?"

Taken aback, Mai took a glance around them at the people in the cafe. A few high school girls, an elderly couple, and a middle aged man. She turned to John. "R-right here?"

John nodded firmly, eyes set on her, bright and determined. "Yes."

It took Mai a moment but she finally mustered up a smile. "Uh, sure."

And so John prayed, out loud and unashamed of his beliefs, his words strong and comforting as he prayed for her future and her happiness and her parents in heaven. He continued on and even though people were staring Mai could only focus on his words, her insides warm and her fingers tingling, her eyes producing unshed tears.

She remembered her dad, a brief memory of him smiling at her, and her mom coming home from work and immediately making her dinner. Then Bou-san ruffling her hair, and the four of them laughing together after John's comment about Naru, and how the priest held her hand warmly, praying for her well being. Then the dream. She thought about it and what it meant. There must be a meaning and every time she thought about it there was a weird sinking feeling in her stomach.

Why did the dream come to her? What was it's purpose?

Red.

 _Screeeeech_. A car.

Mai jolted and the tears rolled down her cheeks.

" _Amen_." John opened his eyes and when he looked up, Mai was crying silently and still, the tears falling down her cheek as she clenched on his hands tightly. "Mai?" He asked softly.

Mai swallowed and met his eyes. "Thank you John." She said honestly and he nodded.

She was really gonna need the prayer, because she had a foreboding sense that the dream meant something awful might happen.

* * *

 _ **Tuesday**_

The next morning, everyone watched Naru take a crow bar and tear down all of Mai and John's hard work to reveal that the chair was no longer in the circle it was originally place in and instead was thrown across the room.

"Eh?" John blinked in shook and looked around the room to see if there had been any disturbance in the wood.

Mai looked around the room and pretending to be shocked, but of course she already knew that Naru had finally figured out the case. He explained to everyone that the old school house was indeed still sinking, sticking to his original explanation. But then the questions came about and he answered them carefully. He explained in detail that half of poltergeists were caused by humans, especially ones who were looking for attention, and how yesterdays red light thing was his way of planting the suggestion about the chair moving in their minds to prove that it was humans doing.

Everyone understood at once.

Kuroda took a step back in shock as everyone turned to look at her. "Y-you're saying it was me?"

Naru took a few steps forward so he was closer. "From the beginning you insisted something was here. From the ghost stories to saying that this place was used as a hospitable despite there being no such records. This either meant you were mistaken or lying." Kuroda insisted she wasn't lying and Naru ignored that. "I honestly thought you were lying about being spiritually sensitive, but movement started happening I couldn't explain. However with my data, Hara-san's judgement, and the failed exorcisms I concluded there were no spirits here. It was a humans doing. Poltergeists typically occurs in young adolescents, especially teen girls. There are also cases in spiritually sensitive girls who do it unconsciously when under stress." Naru spared no details and showed no sympathy as he continued, and even though she had called her ugly, Mai found herself feeling sorry for Kuroda. "Kuroda-san, apparently you've been famous for being spiritually sensitive since middle school and so when everything began pointing to my land subsidence theory you started doubting yourself and became fixed on the idea that there must be spirits here, and so the strange events occurred."

Bou-san seemed like he was in shock. "So she did it unconsciously..." He trailed off in shock.

Kuroda hid her face, ashamed. Mai swallowed down her saliva and pushed away her pride. "So doesn't that mean to be able to do all of that, Kuroda must have some level of PK?" She asked and Naru glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow. "I mean even though it was because she didn't want to be wrong it's all there, right? Psychic abilities, I mean." Kuroda glanced up, looking at Mai in shock.

Naru nodded slowly, turning away from Mai to the black haired girl. "Yes, to some extent they are there." He suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a nail, turning to the red head. "Matsuzaki-san, in your case with the door it was because this nail was stuck in the groove of it."

"A nail?!" Ayako repeated in shock and reached forward to grab it. "So it was done on purpose?" She gave Kuroda a pointed glare.

Naru tilted his head in a certain way that gave off the feeling he was amused. "It was probably meant as a prank, considering you weren't very nice to Kuroda-san earlier on."

Ayako clenched her hand around the nail and turned away, having the decentsy to realize that it was because she was mean. "Well what about the missing video footage."

Mai shrugged her shoulders. "That's easy, they were erased." She saw in the way Naru's eyes turned sharped that he was unaware she knew that.

"And how do you know that?" Naru asked.

"Well... I kind of walked into base at the wrong time and Kuroda..." Her sentence trailed off when she remembered Kuroda's threat. Surely things were different now?

Kuroda averted her eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry, I was angry and frustrated." Eyes turned in her direction and she shuffled on her feet nervously, hands clenched together in front of her. "I told Mai that if she told anyone she would regret it. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have threatened you."

"Hahah, no problem." Mai grinned at the girl and Kuroda blushed, looking away as she flashed her a thumbs up.

Naru turned away, ignoring them and turned to the rest of the group. "Anyway, I plan to tell the principle that the old school house was haunted and through all of our efforts we managed to exorcise the spirit."

Masako stepped forward, her pretty kimono sticking out in the blandness of the room. "Are you sure you don't want to tell him the truth?'

"I see no reason to embarrass Kuroda-san any further. She is managing to suppress herself enough." Naru reasoned carefully before turning to the others. "If that is alright with you?"

Ayako suddenly wasn't where she original was. She was instead leaning in close to Naru's face, a smirk curving her red lips. "Hmm, Naru you're actually quite kind." She said in a seductive way. "Got a girlfriend?'

"I'm not sure I understand your question."

Mai blanched. Was this women really making a move on a teenager?

Ayako leaned even closer. "I'm saying that I wouldn't mind putting up with you."

Naru blinked and in all seriousness, he turned to her. "I'm afraid I can't. I'm too used to looking at myself in the mirror."

Everyone laughed and Ayako became embarrassed, as usual. Even though it had been quite a long six days everyone seemed to be getting along well by now, and they all came to the agreement that they worked together to solve the case. It was almost time for class to start when everyone started saying their goodbyes, heading to their cars and other places.

"Mai, don't you need to get to class?" Naru asked as he passed by her to the van, carrying a camera.

Mai followed after him with a smile. "I just thought I should see you off."

"No need." Naru straightened after placing the camera down and turned to her with an emotionless expression. "If you get any dumber it'll be concerning."

"EXCUSE ME!" Mai hugged angrily and pointed at him. "You are incredibly rude! Good. Bye!" She snapped before turning and running away towards the school.

She couldn't believe him!

* * *

The old school building collasped a day after the case was finished.

* * *

Lin blinked slowly as he held onto his crutch, staring at the young male sitting behind the desk. "Are you sure about this? She didn't seem to be very sharp."

Naru tilted his head as he held up the red hair clip between his fingers, the one Mai had dropped when she fainted the first day they met. He twisted it around his fingers and smirked. "I thought so too. But she remained unaffected by me when all other girls were easily distracted, she wasn't deceived easily, ad she seems to have a basic understanding of PK among other things." He remembered when she ran to Kuroda through all the chaos, after the window had smashed. "She figured it out before me."

Lin frowned and shifted on his feet. "Excuse me?"

The red diamonds on the hair clip shone against the sun as it shifted in his fingers. "She knew that it was Kuroda-san creating the poltergeist. And she didn't share it with me. Whether it be to save my pride or her not being confident in her theory, I'm not sure. By the way-" Naru glanced up at Lin with calm eyes. "-When you were injured and I arrived, did I say your name in front of Mai?"

Lin thought back to that day and shook his head. "No, you didn't."

"Hm." Naru nodded slowly. So how did she know his name? His lips curved upwards but he paused when he thought about what the principle told him. That she was an orphan and living on her own. "She helped me even when I attempted to deceive her, I think the least I could do is return the favour."

"Whatever you feel is nessacery, Noll."

Naru leaned forward, his fingers wrapping around the phone as he brought it to his ear, dialing a number after placing the red clip on the table. The receptionist picked up after the first ring.

" _Moshi, moshi_?"

Naru smirked. "Can I speak to Taniyama Mai please?"

* * *

 **I had lost my writing groove for a few days, which is why you haven't seen an update since then. The first few chapters were really easy to write but this one was kind of difficult for me to get out but after I started it flowed really well. Also, Mai really was bothered by being called ugly LOL.  
Anyway, I'm grateful for all the reviews, thank you very much. **


	5. Chapter 5

Mai's first day at work consisted of a lot of things. Like organizing the bookshelf in the waiting room and going out to buy more supplies for the kitchen. She felt like she was dead on her feet by the time she managed to clean off her new desk which seemed to be used as a junk pile before she arrived.

Smiling in victory, Mai blew a piece of dust off the now shiny surface. "Haha."

A huge pile of dirty books slammed down on her desk, creating a cloud of dust around her. When she looked up Lin was staring at her emotionless, hovering over her like a huge shadow. "Read these." Was all he said before turning around and walking to his office, shutting the door swiftly and disappearing from sight. Mai mouthed a few not so nice words at the closed door and wished she had an office herself.

 _"You're my assistant, but you're also like the secretary."_ Was what Naru explained to her briefly when she asked why her desk was more in the open. Made sense when she thought about it, since the two of them were in their offices doing work she figured someone had to greet clients.

Looking down at the books he dropped on her now dusty desk she read the titles. They were all books on paranormal. There were books on Telekinesis and PK abilities and then the rest were more about psychic research, nothing that she didn't already know. Pushing the books aside and glancing around to Naru's office where the doors remained shut Mai slowly moved from her seat.

She moved towards the book shelves lining one of the walls near the seating area and began searching for a certain title, narrowing her eyes and going on her tippy toes to see anything above her head. Her eyes skimmed over a certain book and she paused. ESP. There, if she remembered correctly this kind of book would go into detail about retro cognitive abilities, something she would eventually began to develop, and pre cognitive abilities, AKA clairvoyance or seeing the future. Something that she assumed her dream must have fit into.

She reached up and- "What are you doing?"

Mai jumped, startled and swung around to find Naru standing directly behind her. "I, uh, just looking at the books." She explained lamely and hoped he hadn't seen which book she was reaching for.

He glanced over to her desk where the books Lin had dropped sat carefully. "And you've finished those ones?"

"No..." Mai answered unsure. "I already knew about all of that stuff, you can search it up on the internet."

Naru raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I want you to read those ones, they are from a credible source, unlike the internet. When you're done reading those ones then you can read the books on the shelves."

She wanted to smack him over the head but instead she clenched her teeth together and nodded slowly. "Fine."

Just when she thought he was going to return to his office he paused, his eyes moving downwards and his hand dipping in his pants pocket. "You dropped this." He said calmly and pulled out her red hair clip, holding it out to her.

Mai grabbed the hair clip with wide eyes. "When did I drop this?" She asked.

"The day you fainted."

Her eyes almost bulged out of her head and she let out a laugh of disbelief. "You mean you've been holding onto this since then? I've been looking every where for it! Why couldn't you have given it to me the next time you saw me after I fainted?"

Naru turned his head away completely ignoring her question. "Get to reading all of those books." And then he was gone, disappearing into his office.

Mai glared at the door and stomped over to her desk and used her hand mirror to replace her white hair clip for the red one and smiled to herself, pleased. Her eyes drifted over to the pile of books. Urg. She might as well get started on reading, the faster she started the faster she would finish. Besides, it wouldn't take too long.

She picked up a book and began reading.

 **July**

Mai slammed the very last book down, eyes red and sore. "I'm finished!" She announced to the empty space around her. It had taken her over two months to finish all of the books she'd been told to read. TWO MONTHS. She couldn't believe it, re reading all of the things she already knew about. Although, even if she wouldn't admit it out loud, the books had given her a little extra information on certain subjects. Overall she had a better understanding.

A warm breeze from the open window drafted through the office and Mai felt uncomfortable perspiration on her neck. "It's hot!" Mai whined to herself and lifted her arms above her head as she used a paper made fan to breeze herself with but it seemed to do nothing but blow continuous hot air on herself.

The click of an office door got her attention and she looked up as Naru exited his office, his usual blazer missing and his bangs slightly plastered to his forehead. She smiled at him in greeting and he walked right past her, eyes cold. He was definitely in a bad mood. Mai watched his back as he disappeared around the corner silently before coming back only a moment later, scanning the room with his eyes. Then he left again.

"Uh, Naru is everything okay?" Mai stood and glanced around the corner to the seating area where he was walking around, staring at a wall blankly.

His shoulders sagged in the slightest and he turned to her sharply. "I'm looking for the air conditioner." He finally said and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, stopping at his jaw before falling.

Mai let out a giggle but stiffened when he flashed her a displeased look. "This is your own office and you don't even know where the air conditioner is?" She questioned in amusement and stood to help him find the thermometer.

Naru ignored her question and moved a coat rack to glance at the wall behind it. "I wasn't aware summer was going to be this hot." He commented lowly, reaching up and wiping his forehead when he found nothing on the wall. Mai almost laughed at him before she remembered that he wasn't from Japan and so he probably hadn't ever experienced the humidity here.

Mai was disappointed when she didn't find the thermometer on any of the walls in the office and glanced at the one wall they hadn't checked. The wall filled with bookshelves. "Hey." She grabbed his attention and he followed her line of sight, turning towards the wall. For a few moments the two of them simply stared, each of them denying it mentally. "Wouldn't hurt to check right?"

Naru frowned as he stared at the bookshelf. "I doubt it's gonna move."

"Well it's gonna be a really crappy summer then..."

Naru moved forward without another word and hooked his fingers on the back of the shelf and gave it an experimental pull. He paused and sucked in a deep breath before pulling harder, placing both of his hands on the edge. It didn't even budge.

"Let me help." Mai moved in quickly and ducked underneath him so she was in front of him and placed her hands underneath his. "On three." She said and he nodded. She counted up and on three they both yanked at the same time. The shelf shifted an inch. "We did it!" Mai said in victory and moved to see the small space in between the wall and the shelf and saw an indent in the wall. "It's there." She told him in disappointment. That meant they would have to move the shelf to get at the thermometer.

Naru swallowed and wiped his sleeve against his neck and Mai found herself following the movement unconsciously before she mentally slapped herself. How was he even attractive when he was sweating? Life was unfair sometimes. She watched as he moved back in position to pull and Mai moved in front of the shelf and placed her arm around the corner to get ready to pull once more.

"On three." Naru repeated her previous words and Mai nodded. "One, two, three." They both began pulling on the shelf and Mai felt a hot flash of air from the window, making her sweat even more.

She turned to Naru in frustration. "You're not pulling hard enough!" She stressed out, "Pull harder!"

Out of nowhere he mustered up some monstrous strength and gave an extra hard pull and Mai let out a yelp when a book from the top shelf slid off and hit her on the top of the head as the bookshelf tilted forward. She panicked and threw herself against it, using her back to keep it upright while Naru let out a huff of a breath, using his arms to stop it from falling any further.

"Lin!" He yelled out after realizing the two of them weren't strong enough to push the shelf back in place.

Another book fell and hit Mai and she flashed Naru a glare from her place. "I said pull, not _pull pull_!" She snapped at him.

Naru's eyes narrowed and he clenched his teeth together. "Pull and pull pull are the exact same thing." He ground out in frustration.

"Obviously not!" Mai argued and looked up in relief as Lin exited his office, his eyes widening slightly when he saw their situation. He rushed forward quickly to help them push the shelf back up and the three struggled like that. "Why wouldn't you look to see if the thermometer was there before you placed the bookshelf here?" Mai asked underneath her breath as she struggled.

Naru looked away stubbornly, his sweat now dripping down his forehead. "Just push." He hissed lowly.

Mai groaned out as she gave the shelf a shove. "You mean push or push push?"

"Same thing, Mai!" Naru snapped at her, his anger finally coming undone and Lin's jaw ticked.

"Stop arguing." The older man cut in between them and they finally managed to place the bookshelf upright once more. He turned to give the two of them cold looks and they looked away from his gaze like children being scolded. "What were you thinking? You could have been seriously injured." He was also sweating by this point and Mai wondered if he disliked her even more now.

"We were looking for the thermometer." Mai explained slowly and gave Naru a dirty look when he remained silent. "And Naru here pulled too hard and almost squashed me!"

Naru finally seemed to have some interest as he glanced up. "Mai, stop being so dramatic-"

"Excuse me?" A sweet voice interrupted them and the three turned to the front door, sweaty and looking very unwelcoming and the women standing there flinched, letting the office door close causing the bell to ring in the silence. She clenched her fingers around her purse. "I-Is this a bad time? I can come back-"

"No, it's okay!" Mai cut in quickly when she recognized the face of the women. Mai couldn't help but think that it was about time this women showed up, she was beginning to wonder if the Doll House case came a little later than she originally thought. "Uhm, we were just trying to do something but that's not important! Do you have business with us?"

The brown haired women nodded nervously. "Yes, I came to ask for your assistance in a few strange things happening in my house..." She trailed off and bowed stiffly. "My name is Morishita Noriko." She introduced herself.

Mai smiled softly. "I'm Taniyama Mai, did you want anything to drink?" She asked as she moved forward with a friendly look, automatically getting in the groove of making the client comfortable enough to speak freely.

They never did get to turning on the air conditioning after that

* * *

 _ **Day 1**_

"There's a lot of strange things still happening." Noriko said sadly with her head bowed. According to her, the furniture would rattle and knocking could be heard on the walls and doors opening and closing on their own. It had been three days since she came to the office asking for their help, and so here they were. Noriko turned to the red haired woman at her side. "This is my step-sister Kana." She introduced the women and then placed her hand on the head of the cute little girl in front of her. "And this is Ayami. We're alone in the house since my brother is overseas due to work."

Kana narrowed her eyes as she looked from Naru to Mai suspiciously. "Who is in charge here?"

Naru took a small step forward. "It's me, my name is Shibuya Kazuya."

After seeming slightly taken aback for a brief moment at his young age, Kana regained her composure. "So do you really think there is ghosts here?" She asked. Obviously from the tone of her voice she didn't really believe in it.

Naru remained unfazed. "We are here to investigate that."

Mai turned her attention to Ayami and couldn't believe how cute the small girl was. She gave her a small wave and Ayami sent her a dimpled smile. After they had brought in all of the equipment from the van Mai was shown to her room in the large house where she would be staying in the nights and placed her bag down on the bed, glancing over her shoulder when she was able to hear the noisy arrival of Ayako and Bou-san.

"They never change." She said to herself and turned to began unpacking her bag but froze. Her bag wasn't on the bed. "What the..." Mai took a step back when she realized that her bag was at her feet and her clothing and items were now flown across the floor. It took her a moment to gather her composure and she began picking up her things.

That was really fast, the spirit definitely didn't like her, she decided when she shivered at the really dark atmosphere in her room. She picked up her notebook and looked at the points. Nothing in there said anything about her items moving so quickly after arrival. So something had changed then. Placing her notebook in her bag she turned around walked from the guest room to where the others would be setting up base.

As she expected things were quite messy, unloading all of the equipment took a lot of work. Bou-san grinned at her as he carried a camera past her out the door. "Hey, Mai. How ya doing?"

Mai returned the smile. "I'm great!" They conversed for a little while longer and eventually he moved to place the camera in which ever room the boss has ordered him too and Mai spun around, heading towards the monitors where Naru and Lin leaned over, taking into the head piece to Ayako who was currently setting up microphones. "Naru?"

Naru blinked and turned his gaze towards her. "What is it?"

"You know how ghosts usually shy away to new visitors?" Mai brought up with a nervously smile, wringing her hands behind her back as his eyes narrowed and he nodded. "Okay well, I was upstairs about to unpack my clothes and then I heard Bou-san and Ayako, so I glanced away for a moment and when I turned back my things are thrown across the bed and the floor. That's strange right?"

Naru frowned, placing his chin into his palm slowly. "Yes, that is very strange. We've been here for only about an hour now." He suddenly turned away from her to say something lowly to Lin and immediately the Chinese man began typing quickly. Naru glanced back to her sharply. "And you didn't do anything to instigate it?"

Mai couldn't help but feel offended and gave him a dirty look. "Of course not! I just looked away for a moment."

A suddenly clinking of heels against a wooden floor made them turn as Ayako strutted into the room confidently, her blue dress hugging her curvy figure loosely. "It's the work of an Earth spirit." She informed them with a smirk.

Mai cracked a smile in amusement. "Oh really?"

Ayako's eyebrow quirked upwards and she sent Mai a challenging look. "Yes, really. You have anything better to contribute?"

"No, anything I say will just be thrown back at me because apparently I'm not experienced enough." Mai sent a not so discreet glance in her bosses direction and he turned his attention back to her with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"If you're attempting to spark an argument now is not the time." He told her calmly and then turned back to whatever had his interest on the monitors. "Maybe later."

Bou-san let out a loud snort as he glanced between the two teenagers. "You guys schedule when you're going to have an argument?"

"Yep, weekdays it's usually between 4-6PM and on weekends it starts as soon as I get into the office." Mai told him nonchalantly and moved past him with a microphone, intending to set it up in the upstairs hallway.

Bou-san blinked in surprise. "I'm not sure if you're joking or not." He told her but Mai simply ignored his reply and began moving, heading up the stairs and doing as she intended. Shortly after she taped the wires to the ground so they weren't loose and people weren't tripping over them she saw the green light flash on, informing her that it was now connected to the monitors downstairs.

"Oh, Mai-san." Noriko said in surprise as she was coming up the stairs, carrying a plate of food. "It's time for Ayami's snack, did you want to tag along?"

"Yeah sure." Mai smiled brightly and together they went to Ayami's room where the girl herself sat in the middle of the floor playing with her doll. "Hi, Ayami. What are you doing?" Mai asked as she moved to stand in front of the child while her aunt began placing the snacks on the table.

Ayami blinked up at her innocently and held up her doll, drawing Mai's eyes to it. "This is Minnie."

Mai cringed and her insides felt like they were sinking as she stared at the blonde haired doll, it's green eyes oddly looking intense. Well it was being used a vessel for a spirit but she never realized that it would give off such a strong feeling. She forced a smile and shook the dolls hand hesitantly. "Hi, Minnie..." She let out a nervous laugh.

Noriko smiled lightly at the two and her attention was drawn to the books on the floor. "Were you reading books, Ayami?" She asked gently but Ayami suddenly froze, her eyes going slightly wider and her hands clenching onto Minnie a little tighter. She turned away. Noriko blinked down at her niece in concern. "Ayami, don't you want snacks?"

Ayami shook her head. "I don't want it."

Eventually after a few more failed tries of trying to get her eat, the two left her to herself and Mai sent the doll a slightly glare as she left the room. When she returned to base, Naru told her that one of the cameras wasn't set up probably and he needed her to fix it, so that that's what she did for the rest of the day, fixing all of the malfunctioning cameras because Ayako hadn't set hers up correctly.

Naru did the red light experiment on Ayami, Kana, and Noriko shortly after dinner, the object of focus being a blue and white vase which they placed on a coffee table with a chalk drawn circle around it. The moment the lights were switched on, the three immediately focused on the vase. It had worked, now they only needed to wait and see if it moved.

Which it wouldn't, Mai knew as she sat on an armchair in the room they were using for base with her notebook in her lap. She was looking at the two points that came next.

 _Furniture in the rooms become reorganized_

And then for the next day it was:

 _A fire in the kitchen_

Biting her bottom lip in thought, Mai tapped the end of her pencil against the notebook papers in rhythm with the clock. The moving of the furniture was essential to get the case started and it was unavoidable. The fire in the kitchen however... it was unnecessary.

 _Tick._

 _Tick._

 _Tick._

Naru glanced up in mild irritation. "Mai." But she didn't seem to hear him and instead continued on with her annoying incessant tapping of her pencil. She had that look in her eyes again. The one that she had many times at the office while she was reading the textbooks or writing in her black notebook. The intent and unwavering gaze of someone very focused. "Mai." He tried again when he stood and walked to where she sat, stopping at her side and his eyes glancing down towards the pages of her notebook.

Her hand closed the book before he even had the chance to comprehend a single word on the page full of writings. Interesting. He thought that maybe she was simply drawing it the notebook but it seemed she was actually using it to write things down, but whether it be notes on the textbooks or a simple diary, Naru wasn't very interested in what went on in the mind of a clueless high school girl.

 _Tick._

The door to their base burst open and Kana stood in the doorway, her face pale and her chest moving up and down with her quick breaths. "Come quickly!" She yelled and everyone immediately stood to run after her as she began making her way back upstairs. But Mai had another thing thing on her mind. Ayami's furniture would be slanted and while everyone was upstairs everything in the living room would be moved upside down.

She made her way to the living room without being noticed in everyone's panic and stopped at the glass doors leading into the room. Everything was still in it's place. Mai glanced down at the watch on her wrist and waited for the hand ticking in seconds to hit the 12 at the top before turning around and classing the doors, leaning her back against the glass and closing her eyes.

She waited in silence before that familiar gut feeling hit her and she pulled open the door as she turned. She looked at the clock immediately. 33 seconds.

There was a thump against the ground behind her and Noriko stood with wide eyes at the living room where everything was flipped upside down. She stood in stunned silence for a second and then let out a piercing screen causing Mai to flinch. It didn't take long for the others to be there and Mai ignored their shocked stances in the doorway as she moved forward to reach for the carpet in amazement.

It took 33 seconds for the ghost to flip everything upside down, including the carpet, silently.

"Whatever is here is pretty bold." Bou-san spoke up silently as he glanced around the room. "To do something this big I don't think it's the simple poltergeist."

Naru blinked slowly as he observed the room too. "We're going to have to be more careful." He said lowly to everyone before turning around to began walking back to the base, seeming unfazed. "No one is to go into Ayami's room or the living room for the time being. I need someone to set up cameras and microphones in each room as well." And then he was gone, going off on his own.

Mai sighed to herself softly and turned to the others. "You heard the big boss." She smiled before walking away as well before they could set her up with the job.

 ** _Day 2_**

That night she barely got sleep, because it seemed the ghost children trapped in this house decided that her blanket belonged on the floor rather than keeping her warm, and so she spent the night waking up because she was cold and then getting up to grab her blanket from the floor where it was mysteriously placed then going back to sleep until the pattern continued.

Ayako had finished purifying Ayami's room just as Mai left her guest bedroom, fully dressed.

Ayako smiled at Mai smugly, her priestess outfit contrasting against the dark wood of the walls. "The case is good as solved now." She laughed into her sleeve in victory.

Mai smiled wryly.

* * *

Kana was cooking up something on the stove when Mai walked into the kitchen. "Did you need help?" She asked politely as she walked further into the room.

Kana blinked in surprise before her usual stone set features loosened a bit. "Yeah sure. I just need to cut up some vegetables for dinner, if you wouldn't mind making sure this doesn't burn?" She motioned towards the food in the pan and Mai smiled. Perfect.

"No problem." Mai nodded and took Kana's place at the stove, staring down into the sizzling food slightly uneasy. She wasn't sure if she should turn the stove off now of if that would be too odd. She would have to focus very carefully. The two females talked about small things here and there and Mai found that Kana wasn't nearly as rude as she originally came off to be.

The woman was probably stressed about her husband being far away and insecure about raising a child that wasn't hers. And then this ghost stuff happening didn't seem to make it any better.

There was brief change in temperature against Mai's fingers as she held the pan and she frowned when she noticed the heat in the pan was slowly getting hotter. If she remembered correctly the fire suddenly burst up out of no where, so why...

Now.

Mai's fingers fumbled for the knob and she turned it off just as a lick of fire singed her fingers.

"Mai, are you okay?" Kana blinked in shock at the small burst of fire she saw briefly and made her way to reach for the younger girl to see her if her fingers were alright. Mai looked up to reassure her but she blinked and she was suddenly looking up at the ceiling. It took her a moment to realize that Kana was yelling out in panic and that she was laying on the good, and her face stung like hell.

 _"Bad child."_

Mai shuddered and she felt a hand underneath her elbow pulling her to stand, making her finally glance up to where Ayako stood at her side in concern.

"What happened here?" Naru's low voice rang throughout the room as he turned to Kana, seeing that Mai was a little dazed at the moment.

Kana pointed to the stove. "She singed her fingers cause the fire got a little too high and then she turned to me and... it was unbelievable." She let out a shaky breath and hugged herself. "It was like someone had slapped her, but-but there was nothing there!"

 _Ahh_. Mai realized why her cheek felt like it was on fire. Was it the woman ghost who was trapping all the children in this house who had slapped her? She remembered the voice of a woman. _Bad child_. Was she punishing Mai because she'd beaten her to the punch and turned the stove off before she could set the house on fire?

Whatever it was, Mai realized that this hadn't happened in the original timeline and that she was treading into unknown grounds.

* * *

 **Sorry for not updating, but if I write chapters without inspiration then they come out boring and unoriginal and I don't want to post half assed chapters simply for the update. I hope you enjoyed this as much as you liked the other chapters and I'll stop working on the next chapter as soon as I get home from work tonight!**

 **Reviews are wonderful, thank you so much.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you alright?"

The voice was so low that she barely heard it. Mai glanced upwards. "I'm fine..." She answered her boss slowly, her hand resting against the stinging skin against her cheek. They were still gathered in the kitchen and Lin was taking a temperature reading around the area, his eyes narrowed and his stance stiff as he walked over to the kitchen window to close it so the outside temperature wouldn't affect the kitchens.

"Naru!" Lin jumped backwards in shock and Mai glanced upwards. "There was a shadow." Lin explained to the younger male as he pointed to the window before leaning out to see if anyone was in the yard and found nothing, turning to everyone else with a frown. "It was small, like-"

"Like a child." Mai finished his sentence.

Lin nodded curtly. "Exactly."

Naru's eyes traveled from Mai to Lin carefully and crossed his arms. "I think we should question Ayami. There's a possibility it was her outside." He turned to Noriko and although she seemed a little uneasy she nodded and so they made their way up the stairs together and Mai slowly creaked open the door to Ayami's room and watched as the younger girl was tucking in her doll with a small blanket.

That's creepy. Mai cringed as she observed the doll.

Noriko reached into the room and turn the light on causing the young girl to glance upwards. "Aunt Nori." She blinked innocently.

Noriko moved further into the room and grabbed Ayami by the shoulders gently. "Ayami, were you outside? You're not in trouble but Lin-san saw someone peaking into the kitchen window." Ayami shook her head and Noriko frowned softly, "Please Ayami, if it was you just tell us. I won't be mad." The young girl pulled away, clenching her fists.

"It wasn't me." She shook her head softly.

Noriko, seeming frantic for an explanation, reached for the girl once more. "Ayami, please!"

"It wasn't Ayami!" Ayami screamed and a loud vibrating shook the room around them. This shaking continued and Ayami repeated the sentence, the vibration getting stronger and stronger until the bookshelf behind Noriko began tipping over.

 _Crap_. Mai's eyes widened and she reached forward uselessly, however the book shelf fell and Noriko went down with it.

* * *

 **Day 3**

It was just past midnight when everyone was gathered in base around the monitors, Bou-san and Ayako bickering to her side.

Mai could hear everyone's voices but she wasn't focused enough to comprehend them fully. She was very upset with herself. Her notebook should have had that information about the bookshelf falling. Granted, Noriko wasn't hurt but what if she had been? Mai was frustrated because she didn't understand why she didn't remember something like that but now that she thought about it she didn't remember other small things, like Kuroda's name. She seemed to remember the big events rather than the small details, which meant she would be caught off guard more than a few times.

"Naru." Lin's deep voice was like a knife cutting through her concentration. "The temperature in Ayami's room is beginning to drop rapidly."

Naru rushed forward, eyes intense and his body becoming stiff. "Speaker!" He barked at the older male and Lin complied, turning up the volume for everyone to hear the rustling of the items in Ayami's room moving and bumping.

With everyone focused on the noise Mai turned to the temperature, because one thing that had been implemented in her mind was that the stronger the spirit the lower the temperature. She leaned over Naru's shoulder. "And the temperature?" She asked and he jumped, seemingly surprised at her voice but nonetheless he turned to the temperature monitoring to get the current results.

"Incredible." He said to himself and turned to glance back at her. "It's dropped so fast and in a matter of seconds it's almost below freezing."

Mai swallowed. "And that means?"

Naru turned away from her and his hands clenched around the edge of the table. "That means this couldn't possibly be the work of humans."

They observed the phenomenon until it stopped and by then Mai was dead on her feet. She turned to began making her way to the kitchen as she wanted some tea before she went to sleep. The kettle was just beginning to get hot when Naru entered the area, seeming to be a man on a mission as he marched towards her.

"Sit down." He snipped.

Mai took a step back instinctively. "Excuse me?"

Naru took a seat at the table and placed down a white box. "I said sit. I don't like being in debt to anyone."

"In debt?" She was confused but she did as she was told and sat across from him. He opened the box and Mai realized that it was a first aid kit and watched in shock and confusion as he took out a few band aids and some treating ointment.

"Yes, in debt. Now rest your hand right here." He motioned to the space spread between them on the table, waiting expectantly. Apparently she wasn't fast enough for him and he reached forward for her hand himself but she jerked away. "Mai." He said exasperated.

"I'm having trouble understanding what's going on." Mai told him slowly and despite the situation she could feel her heart picking up speed in nervousness that he would reach for her hand again. She'd never held hands with a boy before.

Naru sighed and motioned to the space. "When we were investigating at your school you bandaged my hand, even though I had been rude to you previously." His eyes averted down to the band aids and ointment to put them in place but Mai had her suspicions that he just didn't like meeting her eyes while he admitted that he owed her one. "And so I am returning the favor. Give me your hand."

This time Mai had no trouble giving him her hand and her heart slowed back to a normal pace in calmness when she realized his good intentions. She watched quietly as he cleaned the burns on her fingers where she'd been singed earlier and she witnessed how detailed and slow he was in certain ways, as he made sure that the band aids wrapped around each of her fingers were aligned carefully and wrapped neatly and not too tight. He threw the wrappers away after a minute and picked up a white spray can and shook it.

Mai tilted her head curiously as she watched him obliviously. "What's that?"

Naru's answer to her was to turn to her sharply and spray the contents of the can onto her face, causing her to jump in shock. She stared at him after he was done and he blinked at her nonchalantly. "Cooling spray." He explained shortly. "For your cheek."

"Thanks." Mai told him bitterly when she realized that the cooling spray was really helping her stinging cheek.

Naru ignored her thanks. "Now we're even." And he swiftly picked up his things and left, leaving her to deal with the screaming tea kettle.

She made and drank her tea in base on one of the couches and a half hour later Mai yawned, stretching her arms above her head to make some noise to bring attention to herself. "Is it just me or is that doll of Ayami's suuuuper creepy?" She brought up casually and did her best to sound like she was oblivious. She faked an over exaggerated shiver. "It's just like a doll you would see in a horror movie." She stood and smiled to everyone. "Well, I'm going to sleep now. Good night."

As she was leaving the room she could began to see the wheels turning in Naru's mind, the slight narrow of his eyes and the way his fingers tapped a slow but steady pattern against his paper in thought.

She had planted the seed very carefully and now it was time for Naru to help it grow.

Mai grabbed the fire extinguisher in the hall way upstairs as she passed it and she spent the night curled up around the red metal tube in fear that the ghost would retaliate and set her on fire instead, and in the morning she woke up with the handle of it imprinted on the skin of her cheek.

Mai spent the morning seated in the base with a pencil in between her fingers and writing notes about last nights events. Naru had told her that they needed a personal statement from someone at the scene, as sometimes personal and the events in the data could be different, and that between the two any holes should be covered if their story was brought into any question.

She hadn't even realized that she'd fallen asleep until she was seated in the guest room where she was staying for the time being and Naru was staring at her. It was a dream she realized after a brief moment of staring at his face but before she could open her mouth to stay anything a hand grabbed her shoulder, startling her awake.

This time the male in front of her was truly Naru, as he was staring at her intently as his hand fell away.

"What did you say?" Mai sat up quickly, a little shaken up by the words she'd heard.

Naru frowned at her. "I didn't say anything."

"You said..." Mai trailed off and she felt idiotic. It wasn't Naru who said it, now she wasn't delirious from being woken up so quickly she was able to make sense of who and what was said.

"I said what Mai?" Naru asked her sternly.

Mai decided to humor him. "Ayami is in danger." She answered quietly. Seeing his frown she explained. "Just as I woke up, I heard that... I think."

Naru frowned and placed his finger underneath his chin. "Interesting." He thought for a moment before turning to look back up at her. "I was coming to tell you that I looked into your comment last night about how the doll was creepy and Noriko-san told me something very interesting." He sat down beside her. "She said that Ayami had mentioned that Minnie told her that Kana-san was a witch and was trying to poison her."

Mai nodded slowly and pushed away the pride that he picked up on her seemingly innocent comment. "That would explain Ayami's hesitance to bond with Kana-san."

"Yes it would, but that's not the interesting part." Naru shifted in his seat so that he was facing her and his eyes seemed much more blue in his intent focus. "I asked to see the doll and Noriko-san brought it to me and explained that Ayami's strange behaviour began after her father gifted her with the doll. I barely got to finish the conversation with Noriko-san before Ayami came into the room. She was very distressed, more so than any other child would be in a situation like that."

"Unnatural attachment." Mai began to say when the door opened and Bou-san walked in, stopping in his tracks when he saw the two.

"You two are having a civil conversation?" He asked shocked.

Lin pushed into the room past him. "Shocking." He mumbled underneath his breath.

Mai ignored their comments and stood. "Wait until you hear what Naru has to say."

Naru explained the findings he made to Bou-san and Ayako and the four of them made a plan, that later when Ayami was asleep they would take the doll and place it in Ayami's room with a camera faced at it to see if anything would happen.

And so that's what just they did.

"Dolls were originally meant as vessels for trapping people's souls." Bou-san was telling her over her shoulder as they all gathered around the monitors to observe Minnie sitting on Ayami's bed. "Without any soul and being empty on the inside they're easy to possess-"

Naru stood abruptly and that drew Mai's attention to the screens when she realized where his attention was focused on.

It was Minnie, not sitting, but laying down. They watched as the doll slowly began to move, inch by inch making its way towards the edge of the bed before it finally fell to the ground, it's head breaking off and rolling quickly towards the screen, stopping against the lens with it's face covering it. Mai shivering and ignored the way her stomach dropped at the sight, staring at the empty green eyes peering back at her.

She decided that rather than a fire extinguisher, she would be sleeping with a blow torch that night, because that creepy doll wasn't going anywhere near her.

* * *

 _an explanation on my_ ** _absence_ : i started my first semester at university and idk if you know this but uni is kinda super hard lol. not to mention that i work five days a week and between work and school workload i haven't had time to write more than 200 words for this chapter which is why it's soooo late. HOWEVER, it's been twently minutes since i've finished my last final research essay and i now have more time to write!**

 **thank you for sticking with me if you are still here, and i loooooved the reviews you guys sent. They are so nice and supportive.**


	7. Chapter 7

Mai blinked, confused as she glanced around the blank area enclosed by four brick walls with seemingly no exit or enter. She went to move forward but a clinking sound and a tug on her ankle stopped her.

Immediately, as she looked down she felt her stomach drop and all colour leave her face. "No." She shook her head and reached down to wrap her fingers around the thick metal circle around her ankle that was attached to one of the walls through a chain. She tugged hard on the chain in her lame attempt at pulling herself free, a mixture of panic and anxiety tugging at her chest and setting her breathing uneven as she let out a loud sob. "Please, no!" She tugged some more and the chain whipped against the wall, creating a loud noise.

"Be quiet!" A young boy with brown hair suddenly came into view, eyes wide with horror and his face dark with sadness. A chain too was wrapped around his ankle. He reached up and placed a finger against his lips. "She'll hear you." He whispered to her.

Mai stilled. "Who?"

The boy swallowed thickly, glancing around them in the empty walls as if someone was watching them before turning back to her, his lips parting as he began to answer her, however an eerie creaking sound echoed off the walls around them causing the boy to stumble backwards. "She's coming! She's coming, go hide!"

"Wait!" Mai ran forward to follow him as he began running away from her, going straight through the wall opposite of her and disappearing. Her chain stopped her from going too far across the room and she tumbled backwards, stiffening as the hairs on the back of her neck started to stand.

Someone was standing behind her.

Suddenly, a cold damp hand clamped down on the back of her neck and she jolted.

 **Day 3**

Mai sat up from her slumber, hand unconsciously going to rest on her neck.

A creak startled her and she practically jumped a foot in the air.

"Whoa, easy there." Ayako let out an amused laugh as she entered the room. "It's almost noon and Naru's wondering when princess Mai is going to wake up and come work with the rest of us."

Mai threw herself from the bed in shock at how late she had slept in. "Why didn't anyone wake me earlier?" She asked in a panic as she brushed her hair and pinned back her bangs with the red hair clip like she did everyday.

Ayako sat on her bed with her legs crossed, a mug of coffee resting in between her palms and creating a warm aroma in the atmosphere. "We all had a long night after that thing with creepy doll Minnie, we figured that sleeping in wasn't a crime for you." Mai smiled lightly in thanks as she began to pull her shirt over her head to change into comfortable clothes.

"I'm gonna brush my teeth and wash up, I'll be down in a minute." Mai informed her and Ayako nodded and left the room.

It only took her ten minutes to be ready for the day and she made her way down the hall to descend the stairs when talking voices stopped her.

"There are nothing but evil witches in this house." An odd monotone voice that resembled a young girls was saying.

Mai stopped and she slowly turned towards Noriko's room, where her bedroom door was left open a slight crack, just enough for her to hear the words.

Ayami responded curiously. "Even onee-chan?" Ayami referred to Mai as 'onee-chan.'

The other voice snapped back, "Especially onee-chan."

Mai pushed the door open and Ayami turned to stare at her from where she sat across from Minnie, the room empty of anyone else. She forced a smile and moved further into the room, shutting the door behind her. "Who are you talking to, Ayami-chan?"

Ayami tilted her head and pointed in front of her. "Minnie." And then she turned to stare past Mai's shoulder. "And there's someone else too."

Mai glanced over her shoulder and froze when she saw that the door she had just shut was open and a small figure stood in the doorway. She barely got a long enough glance before the small boy disappeared, brown hair prominent in the morning sunlight. "Wait!" Mai called out and ran from the room but by the time that she got into the hall the small boy was gone. She backtracked into the room, still looking into the hall. "Ayami-chan, what was that boy's name-" She stopped because when she turned around Ayami was alone in the same position she was previously, however Minnie was gone. "Where's Minnie?"

Ayami shrugged. "She's hiding."

"Right." Mai forced down her spit and smiled. "I'll leave you and Minnie to play." Then she turned and left the room, rushing down the stairs and into the base where everyone looked up at her as she entered. "Okay so the creepist thing just happened to me a minute ago with Ayami-chan and Minnie and I'm probably going to have nightmares about it for the rest of my life and-"

"Mai." Naru stopped her with a simple word. "Explain slowly." And so she did, and everyone listened to her with different reactions. Ayako was mostly in horror, Bou-san seemed uncomfortable, and Lin was completely indifferent.

"...and that's when I came running down here." Mai finished off.

Naru stared at her intently. "The first day we arrived your things were thrown across the room, you've been slapped, and now this." He swiveled around his in chair and began flipping through his notebook. "Hmm, and you also had a strange dream that relayed to you that Ayami was in danger." Mai frowned as she watched him. She hadn't realized he had wrote that down. "I think it's safe to say that the spirit in this house isn't`` particularly fond of you."

"Really?" Mai tilted her head with a sarcastic smile. "I haven't noticed."

Naru swiped his finger across the page, turning to the next one. "Well, with your attention span, probably not."

"Excuse me?" Mai blinked, flabbergasted, and then took a step forward. "You know Naru, you-"

He ignored her and turned back around with his gaze resting on Bou-san. "Want to give it a try, Bou-san?" His question seemed out of context and random, but the monk simply smiled as he understand immediately.

"You bet. Finally, it's my turn."

* * *

"It's the house that's haunted, Minnie is simply a vessel."

Bou-san crossed his arms, slightly pouting in defeat. He had been so cocky but like Ayako, his exorcism had failed. After a while Naru had Ayami explain to them when Minnie started talking to which she revealed that it was when they moved into the house.

The spirit had terrorized poor Ayami. If Ayami didn't listen to Minnie's orders to stay away from Noriko and Kana then things would go missing or Ayami's room would be teared apart as a punishment.

"And there's many children too, they are Minnie's servants."

Mai thought about the young boy she'd seen and felt a bout of sadness wash over her.

Naru stared at the Minnie doll that sat in a chair in front of them all. "Until we somehow figure out a way to reveal Minnie's true identity, Ayami is in danger." When Mai glanced to her side she was startled to see that her boss was staring at her, as if he was somehow talking to her only. She averted her eyes and nodded slowly in understanding.

She waited for a moment, and then she turned around to the door expectantly.

 _Writings on the wall_

The door burst open and Kana entered to the room in a frenzy. "Come quick!" Everyone followed her into the hall and they were all faced with what was written on the wall with crayon.

"Bad girl's will be punished"

Mai tilted her head. "The red's a little tacky." She muttered to herself, referring to the colour used to write on the wall.

Naru slowly stepped forward. "Minnie must thing that Ayami has betrayed her because she told us something she wasn't supposed to." He turned to Mai. "Stay with her at all times.

Mai nodded.

 **Day 4**

The morning cicada's were loud as Mai and Noriko sat on the porch in the backyard, watching Ayami run around with a kite.

"Thank you." Noriko suddenly said. "For everything honestly. I was so scared and confused on what to do, and I was very hesitant to come and see you."

"I understand, but I'm glad that you did." Mai told her truthfully. "I can definitely see how the family dynamic in your home has been greatly affected by this. It's terrible about what has been happening here and I can only hope that we can fix it quickly."

Noriko smiled lightly and a breeze blew by and the kite that Ayami had been playing with flew past them and fell to the ground. Mai frowned at it before standing suddenly, looking around the area. "Where's Ayami-chan?" The area in front of them was empty, Ayami no longer playing with the forgotten kite.

"Ayami!" Noriko ran into the house to look for her niece in a panic and Mai followed her, running through the downstairs while Noriko looked upstairs.

Lin was just exiting the kitchen when she ran into him. "Taniyama-san." He said, startled as he steadied her.

Mai glanced up at him in worry. "Have you seen Ayami-chan?" She asked him quickly and glanced over his shoulder. "Did she run past you or-"

"I haven't." Lin told her seriously and Mai cursed under her breath, running into the base and grabbing her bag that rested on a table, spilling it's contents in front of her in a panic and then grabbing her notebook, flipping past the pages and pages of writings until she got to the one she needed, tracing her finger down the page until she got to the date for Day 4. "Nothing." Mai shook her head in confusion.

Her notebook said nothing about Ayami going missing on Day 4 of the case.

Her eyes suddenly caught sight of the next page over that was for Day 5, where it read:

 _The pond incident_

"Oh no." Mai placed down her notebook and ran from the room and down the hall, out the back doors and through the yard towards the pond. It wasn't supposed to happen until tomorrow, she hoped that she was wrong. She reached the open area where the pond rested ahead, looking left and right frantically for the figure of the young girl. "Ayami!" She screamed loudly as she caught sight of splashing in the pond.

By the time she reached the edge of the pond the splashing had stopped and Mai wasted no time in jumping into the water, looking around and going under to reached and grasp at something, anything.

 _Please_. She begged whoever was there. Whether it be god or the stupid spirit. She just wanted the little girl to be safe.

A cold rough hand slithered around her ankle and Mai knew immediately that it wasn't Ayami. She kicked and tried to swim to the surface for air but the hand tugged her down and another hand gripped higher towards her knee and then another hand at her waist and another around her neck, pulling her down further and squeezing tightly.

She screamed and in her gasping she swallowed water, breathing it in and making her cough as she choked in her struggle against the hands gripping her.

 _Please._

Two hands clamped around both of her wrists and she struggled for a moment until she realized something very crucial. The hands were warm. She broke through the surface a moment later and the two hands pulled her over the edge of the pond and onto the ground. She coughed out the water and leaned forward, attempting to breath through it as the two hands rubbed against her back.

Mai coughed, looking upwards at the dark silhouette above her. "Ayami..." She gasped out.

"Ayami is safe." A deep voice said and Mai stilled as the figure above her moved in front of the sun and she was able to see the face of Lin leaning over her, his forearms soaked.

She had expected it to be Bou-san, definitely not Lin.

"Mai!" This time it was Bou-san, running towards them frantically with Ayako and Naru at his heels. "Mai, what's happened?"

She barely got her mouth opened before Naru snapped. "What were you thinking? You could have got yourself killed." He stepped forward and pulled her to her feet where he looked at her up and down. "Are you hurt anywhere?" She shook her head and he stepped back, his eyes cold. "Why would you jump into the pond like that?"

This time it was Lin who cut her off. "There seemed to be a struggle in the water, I saw it from the window." Lin told Naru seriously and began rolling up the cuffs of his sleeves. "If Mai hadn't jumped in then I would have, because whatever this spirit is it is very smart. Made it look out to be like Ayami was drowning."

That shut Naru up.

Mai would have laughed in his face had she not also been shell shocked as well. Lin, the same Lin that completely ignored her on a day to day basis and most definitely held a dislike for her, had saved her _and_ stuck up for her in a matter of minutes.

What a strange day indeed.

* * *

"What do you mean you tried to burn the doll?" Mai asked.

Bou-san tilted his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, bosses orders. It didn't burn though, not one scratch. Sorry Mai, I didn't realize you would be so upset about it."

"No, I... I'm sorry." Mai rested her palm against her forehead from where she sat on the couch, resting after today's events. Of course he wouldn't realize why she was upset. The doll was supposed be burned on Day 5, not today. Which meant things were out of order and moving faster than before. "Uhm, Naru?"

Naru remained silent from his seat. He was still upset with her for putting herself at risk and was being unnaturally cold to her for the past few hours.

Mai rolled her eyes and walked towards him. "Can I have the records? I just wanted to check up on something." He reached forward and grabbed a black file holder, gripping it in his fingers and then passing it to her without actually turning in her direction. Mai took the stack of papers quietly and returned to her area where she sat down and began flipping through the pages carefully.

The Yamamoto family, an eight year old daughter gone missing two months in after moving into the house.

The Mizuki family, a six year old girl, found dead.

A boy, five years old.

Another boy, nine.

A girl.

A boy.

Two more girls.

Mai flipped through the pages of the history of the house, her heart sinking lower and lower in her chest as she flipped from page to page, barely glancing at the photo's as she flipped through three more pages and was just about to close the book and give up because she couldn't take the heartbreak until the picture of a certain boy, with a sun hat on and fishing rod in his hands, caught her attention.

The Tachibana family, a young boy aged eight and an older sister, sixteen. Satoru and Michiru.

Mai swallowed and her hand hovered over the page for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a second.

She opened her eyes.

Michiru remained unharmed, however Satoru's body was found in the-

The doorbell rang and Mai closed the files sharply, thankful for the distraction.

Ayako stood from her place and moved to leave. "That's them, I'll go greet them." She left and Mai stood from her chair slowly, turning and waiting for Ayako to return with their new additions.

When they entered, Masako looked unnaturally paler than usual. She immediately threw herself into Naru's arms the moment she caught sight of him.

Naru blinked down at her blankly. "Hara-san?"

Masako gripped his arms tightly and lowered her head. "There are spirits of children everywhere. They are suffering greatly." Mai averted her gaze to the ground and it felt as if the file of children missing or dead was burning a hole through her mind. "They are crying out for their mothers. This house is collecting the spirits of children."

Monk frowned softly and pushed past John lightly, "Just children?" He inquired.

"Most likely." Mai began saying and all eyes turned to her. "The Tachibana family had two children, one aged eight years old and the other was sixteen. There were no reports about the sixteen year old ever experiencing anything paranormal or strange, however the eight year old died."

"That's correct." Naru nodded and stepped away. Apparently Masako wasn't ready for her support beam to move and her legs gave out and she fell, however Ayako managed to catch her and keep her upright. "Any other case where the children were a little older nothing ever happens. It's only targeting children from around the age of eight."

John stepped forward with a concerned look. "And what about the young girl who resides here right now?"

"She's upstairs sleeping." Ayako informed him.

"May I perform a blessing? It would probably help her a little bit." John turned to the big boss and the blue eyed male nodded slowly.

"Yes, you may. When you're done will you perform an exorcism on the doll? I don't want to waste anymore time." Naru asked and the priest nodded. The two of them went upstairs to where Ayami lay in bed and Mai turned to stare at the doll slowly, meeting its eyes and holding the gaze for a minute.

"Bou-san..."

The monk yawned. "Yeah?"

"Keep watch on the doll." Mai told him calmly and then turned and left the room, walking around the empty halls slowly. She stopped at the end near a big window before turning around to the empty space. "Satoru-kun?" She waited for a moment and looked around and listened for any kind of noise. "Are you there? I know that you're the little boy I've seen. I just want to talk."

The hall remained silent.

She tried again, closing her eyes. "Satoru-"

"What are you doing." It was Masako, standing in front of her with her kimono sleeve covering her mouth.

Mai started and jumped a foot in the air, placing her hand against her chest and letting out a relived laugh. "Oh, it's just you. You scared me." She breathed out in amusement.

Masako simply blinked. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Uhhh..." Mai hesitated on whether she should tell the truth or not before letting out a sigh. "I've seen a boy around."

"Brown hair with freckles?" Masako suddenly cut in.

"Yeah, actually." Mai nodded in confusion. "How did you know?"

Masako lowered her hand and pointed forward, right at Mai. "He's right there."

Mai looked down at the space in front of her as her heart lept into her throat however before she had time to even say anything the door to base opened and Bou-san rushed out looking panicked.

He turned to the two girls. "Minnie is gone!"

Mai swallowed nervously as she remembered her interaction with Ayami that morning.

"What's going on down here?" Naru began the decent down the stairs slowly.

"I looked away for a second and Minnie was gone."

Mai turned to looked up the stairs. "She's hiding."

Naru turned to stare at her with narrowed eyes as his mind began turning. "If that's the case, than she would want to be close with Ayami." He turned around and made his way back upstairs and only a few minutes later returned with Minnie wrapped in a sheet. "She was at the foot of Ayami's bed." His eyes turned to John. "I think it's time this doll was exorcised."

"Yes." John nodded and the two retreated into the base.

* * *

 **Day 5**

Minnie was properly exorcised and the vessel was burned so that it couldn't be used by the spirit once more.

They spent the day cleansing and blessing the house after Noriko and Ayami left to stay in a hotel for the time being.

 _Blessing by Bou-san_

 _Naru leaves_

Mai closed her notebook carefully and breathed a sight of relief, because she had the full day to rest as everything seemed to be going according to plan. Then on Day 6 she would be dragged down a well. Although it wasn't happening a day early, the timeline was on track again and she wasn't sure if she liked or hated it.

"It's starting." Naru told everyone and they made their way to stand around the monitors to observe Bou-san sitting in Ayami's room, ready to perform. Mai knew that it would only take a few minutes for the temperature in the living room to drop and for the cleansing to be taken over to there where the well would open up in the floor while he was still in the room, and the grand lady of the hour would finally make her appearance.

The woman who had lost her daughter, Tomiko. The whole reason why this house was haunted.

"Bou-san, you need to take it down into the living room." Lin said into the microphone. "The temperature in there has dropped to minus 2." Bou-san listened and ran down the steps it the living room, beginning his chanting a little more aggressively than before. Then the crying started. A loud moaning sound that sounded terribly like children.

Mai felt a shiver. These poor children.

"What's that?" Ayako pointed to the screen with narrowed eyes before they widened in realization. "Bou-san, there's someone behind you!" She screamed.

Bou-san looked behind him and then turned back to camera, completely oblivious to the shadowy figure of a woman. "There's nothing there."

"It's right there!" Ayako yelled into the microphone before the audio went slightly static as the house shook and the sound of the floor breaking emitted from behind Bou-san.

Naru leaned forward in shock and his eyes focused on the screen much more intently. "The ground is splitting open behind him."

Mai felt the hair on the back of her neck raise.

 _"Your friend is in trouble!"_

Mai gasped and spun around, her eyes landed on Satoru, standing directly in front of her with panicked eyes.

 _"Hurry!"_ And then he disappeared.

"Oh no." Mai didn't waste anymore time and ran from the base and down the hall, pushing herself faster until she made it to living room and ignored everyone's calls for her. She seemed to do that a lot. She burst into the living room and Bou-san turned towards her in shock. "You're in trouble!" Mai yelled at him.

He ignored her. "You need to leave, you could get-" But it was too late. A cold hand wrapped around her ankle and she went down, hitting the ground hard and smacking her head against the floorboards.

No. This wasn't supposed to happen now.

Mai screamed as she was dragged forward and reached for nothing in her attempt at grabbing onto anything. Bou-san reached for her uselessly and Lin burst into the room a second later, eyes frantic. However it was too late. She slid across the floor with her hands scratching at the floor and the coldness wrapped tightly around her ankle.

Satoru came into her sight at the last second. " _Onee-san_!"

But even he couldn't help her and she went over the edge of the floorboards and down the rabbit hole she fell.


	8. Chapter 8

Mai blinked, squinting her eyes against the bright light.

"Taniyama-san."

Everything came into focus and she realized she was laying somewhere very familiar to her. The astral plane. The boy in front of her was leaning over to get a better look at her face with a tilted head, as if he was very confused.

Mai pushed herself to sit up. "What are you looking at?"

The boy leaned back. "You shouldn't be able to do this yet. Your ability should be developed later on, at least a few months from now." His blue eyes took her in carefully and he crossed his arms, a position that made him resemble Naru much more than he already did. "You're abilities are growing quite fast, Taniyama-san. Very impressive." And that's how she knew for absolute sure that this wasn't Naru. He called her so formally.

Mai frowned and repeated his sentence in her head. "Wait, so does that mean you know about why I gained all this knowledge? You said that my abilities shouldn't grow for-"

The boy shushed her with a gentle smile. "No questions."

"But-"

"My name is Gene." Gene smiled and Mai was so taken in by the name that she suddenly felt very stupid, because the moment he said it there was a strange feeling that resembled deja vu that came over her. She knew his name was Gene now that he finally said it himself, but previously it had been so hard to put her finger on it. Why was he so familiar to her and how did she knew that he wasn't Naru? But now it all made sense.

Eugene Davis. Twin brother.

Mai stood and bowed. "Taniyama Mai." She raised her head and he was smiling at her in a way that made her return it. "It's nice to finally, officially, meet you."

"Yes, I feel that way as well. However..." Gene turned and suddenly the space wasn't so dark around them but instead they were standing in a room with tatami flooring and the sun creeping in peacefully through the open porch doors. "We have something else to deal with right now."

Mai turned as the sound of a ball bouncing against the ground and her eyes caught sight of a young girl in a yukata, simply bouncing a ball up and down slowly. "Tomiko." Mai said and Gene nodded in confirmation.

"And that, is the man who abducts her." He said seriously and sure enough there was a man with a hat and a coat on, walking away with Tomiko slowly and disappearing. A woman ran past Mai quickly and she spun around to follow the figure of the woman dressed in a kimono, the sky above them changing drastically to a dark purple colour.

"Tomiko!" She was screaming desperately in worry, tripping over her own feet at the sight of the abandoned ball. "Tomiko!" She cried loudly and collapsed. Mai's heart constricted as she thought about the previous day, when Ayami had disappeared from the backyard. It was practically the same to this woman's situation. However Ayami was found. Tomiko wasn't.

The woman stood slowly and the ground beneath them changed and a well appeared in front of her. She leaned over it, looking down into the darkness. "Tomiko." Was what she said, heartbroken and hurt, and then she leaned forward and fell. Mai went with her as the ground beneath her disappeared and she was falling, wind whipping past her hair and a screaming leaving her lungs.

The ground, coming in fast and hard, was the last thing she saw and felt.

" _Onee-san_!" Mai sucked in a sharp breath and opened her eyes to find that Satoru was leaning over her with a frantic expression. When he saw that she was awake he let out the tension in his body and nodded. "Onee-san is okay. Satoru is okay." A rope went through him and he disappeared. Lin began climbing down the rope slowly and then looked down at her.

"Are you hurt?" He asked her. Mai shook her head.

* * *

Naru decided that they were going to create a kekkai barrier in the house with charms that Ayako made that would stop spirits from passing them, however they would leave the northeast direction open, something they called the demongate. The demongate is a place that was easiest for spirits to pass through and Bou-san and Ayako would stand in the area and scatter the spirits when they appeared in their attempt at escaping. John would go to the living room to scatter the spirits there, leaving what was assumed to be Naru to exorcise Tomiko's mother.

"Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name."

Mai sat beside Masako in the living room in the middle of the floor while Naru stood at the doors, leaning against them. John stood at the front of the well with his bible in his hands and holy water in the other.

Masako's hand slid around Mai's arm slowly. "I wish he wouldn't exorcise the spirit." Masako told her in a low voice and her fingers trembled against Mai's skin.

She couldn't help but feel bad for the medium because to her spirits and people looked the same, meaning seeing a spirit exorcised must have been something awful. However she had nothing to fear because exorcism wasn't Naru's plan, Mai knew that for sure. He wasn't so cold hearted as to kill a spirit forcibly because she was distraught over her child going missing.

Mai placed her hand over Masako's and the two shared a civil moment. "It's going to be alright." She reassured her.

Masako nodded slowly and her eyes averted over Mai's shoulder for a brief moment before returning to her with a small smile. "That little boy is here again."

Mai glanced over her shoulder but only saw an empty space. "Satoru-kun?"

"Yes." Masako placed her kimono sleeve over her mouth. "He's been following you around. I believe he's trying to watch over you, to the best he can at least."

Mai smiled softly to herself as she glanced downwards but part of her heart ached for him. "I think he might see a resemblance between me and his sister, Michiru. She was the same age as me before he..."

"That would make sense." Masako agreed calmly and turned her head and Mai thought they were done with the conversation but the medium said one last comment. "However he must see the kindness that radiates from you. That sort of radiance to them is like a halo in a very dark place to suffering spirits. Some hate it and some take comfort in it. Satoru-kun is the latter of course."

Shocked, Mai turned to the dark haired girl. "Masako, did you just compliment me?" She asked and before she could receive a reply there was a harsh yank on her wrist and she jerked forward, falling against the ground.

"Mai!" Masako said in concern.

John stopped praying and looked back however Mai shook her head. "Continue. What you're doing is starting to affect them." She told him and the blond nodded, turning back around.

He continued praying and Masako started looking around the room with sad eyes. "They are trying to escape, the children's spirits. Purifying them would be impossible with the woman still here. They are bound." Her head snapped forward and her hands covered her mouth, body beginning to shake as she stared at the well. "She's coming out!"

Mai faced forward and in the beginning she couldn't see anything however it only took a minute for the woman to materialize, floating above the well and covered in grief and darkness as she stared at them.

" _Tomiko._ " She was moaning, staring from person to person.

"Tomiko is not here, please let these children go!" Masako said to her in desperation however the spirits reaction was to throw John across the room, where he hit the wall and stayed there in pain.

Naru began walking forward slowly and Masako cried out for him to stop, to not exorcise the woman. "Your child is right here." He told the woman and held up to wooden hitogata to her. "Take all the children here with you when you leave!" He snapped and threw up the hitogata and the woman's eyes followed it, and her expression began changing as she saw something they didn't.

The heavy aura in the room changed as the woman embraced something and a warm light began to emit from her as the atmosphere changed. " _Tomiko_." She said in happiness and the crying of the children stopped and instead change to something lighter, much warmer and happier.

"They're being purified." Masako said with tears in her eyes however Mai didn't reply.

There were two small arms wrapped around her. She couldn't see them but she could feel it. A warm tenderness embraced her and she took comfort in the innocence that surrounded it. "Satoru-kun." The warmness began to fade away and she could imagine his little face, finally smiling and not distraught as he looked at her. Happy.

"Goodbye, _onee-san_."

Mai smiled and her tears shone through her eyes as the spirits in the room left slowly, the woman and Tomiko leaving with them. "Goodbye."

File 2, the Doll House. _Solved._

* * *

 **August**  
 _ **Saturday**_

"I'm so glad you can finally come out, Mai." Keiko said as she, Michiru, and Mai walked down the streets of Shibuya, a popular place for young people to hang out during their free time.

"Me too, the office is closed today because my boss had some appointment." Mai told her friends and then turned to Michiru. "You know Michiru, our last case one of the spirits had a sister named Michiru!" She jumped at the long haired girl playfully and she screamed, drawing attention to them and then becoming embarrassed when she realized.

Michiru glared and a breeze blew day, swirling around her hair. "I hate when you do that Mai."

"I know." Mai shrugged. "That's why I do it." She received a smack on the back of her head for that.

Keiko pouted and reached forward to smooth down Mai's hair, which she had straightened nicely that day. "You're going to mess up her hair, Michi. It's rare that we get to see her dressed up like this, especially for _boys_!" She squealed in excitement.

Mai pushed her fingers away from her hair and turned her nose up. "I didn't dress up for boys. I dressed up for myself." Seeing the flat look she was receiving from her two friends she let out a giggle. "Okay, and if the boys happen to like the way I dress then that's cool too!" The two of them giggled together cutely and they hooked arms as they walked down the street more, passing all the shops on the way.

It had been a least a month after the Doll House case had been solved and Mai had worked non stop, even during the most of her summer break. Today was a day off and Michiru and Keiko had somehow managed to get her to finally agree to attending a mixer, after months of them begging her to attend one with them.

Mixers were gatherings that happened between boys and girls from different schools, in a way to meet other people and perhaps get a boyfriend or girlfriend in the process. These usually happened in karaoke places or arcades, or swimming if the weather was nice. They were heading to karaoke, very simple for a mixer and Mai was grateful.

Mai had dressed up, per request from Keiko, as they finally had a chance to wear something other than their school uniform considering it was summer break. She had worn a cute beige coloured button up shirt that first loosely with a red pleated skirt that blew prettily in the wind. Her shoes were strappy and slightly heeled and her red hair clip was pinning her bangs back behind her ear of course however she had taken the time to actually straighten her hair so it wasn't all over the place.

She had to admit that she think she looked nice.

 _"You're very narcissistic."_ Naru's monotone voice rang through her mouth and she pushed it away bitterly.

"Am not." She mumbled to herself.

"We're here." Michiru said plainly, and Keiko shrieked in excitement. The three of them went into the karaoke place and went to the room that they had booked, where they were met with at least seven boys from a different school and four more girls from their class.

Keiko moved to sit with another girl from their class. "You guys started without us!" She pouted cutely and then introduced herself to the boys politely, Michiru following her shortly after.

Mai moved further into the room, "Taniyama Mai, nice to meet you." She stopped short when she realized that there wasn't any space for her to sit with the girls and tilted her head, deciding that she would simply squeeze in if she had to, however it seemed someone had a different idea.

"You can sit beside me, there's space." A black haired boy with glasses said to her, smiling kindly.

Mai froze as she stared at him before she spun around and glanced at the nameplate on the table that read: _Reserved. Ryokuryou High School._

She turned back and met his eyes as he tilted his head. "I'm Osamu Yasuhara, nice to make your acquaintance."

"Right." Mai nodded, completely weirded out, and then took the seat next to him carefully.

This was strange.

* * *

 **Mai has officially made the acquaintance of two people in this chapter, Gene and Yasu. Once again thank you for the reviews I looooove them. They are my inspiration. As you can tell by the quick updates I am trying to make up for all the time I ghosted y'all lol. Anyway, I think I'm going to take a short detour from the shows timeline and throw in something of my own if you don't mind. Don't want you guys getting bored of reading something you've already watched.**

 **Also, did you guys notice the subtle changes in Mai's relationships with everyone?**

Who's relationship with her do you think is the most interesting and has more potential? (unromantically, I mean, cause duh, i think we all know who's the main couple here.)


	9. Chapter 9

**August _  
Thursday_**

 _Ding_.

Mai turned her head and continued writing her notes, looking up from the client and then down to the papers in front of her.

The woman seemed slightly emotional as she stared from Naru to her. "I'm sorry, I'm still slightly unsure of it all."

"Please do your best to give us every detail." Naru responded coolly from his place in front of her, eyes remaining calm and unforgiving as he gazed upon the nervous woman. When she remained silent, Naru frowned. "Minamoto-san?"

Minamoto Nami jumped in her seat and then let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, right! Well, uhm, first of all I'm a housewife which means that I know when something in the house is wrong."

 _Ding._

 _Ding._

Mai cringed and gave Naru an apologetic glance as she cupped her phone in the pocket, feeling for the buttons and putting it on silent. "I'm sorry." Nami nodded and then continued with her story.

"My son, his name is Akira, he's suddenly become obsessed with strange things. Such as cleaning and... and studying!" Mai raised an eyebrow skeptically at the woman. Nothing of this woman's case was written in her notebook, which meant that it wasn't important enough for Naru to take the case. "My husband who I've been recently married to will not sleep in our house, he practically lives in his car or stays at the office overnight to sleep, he says the house's atmosphere gives him the creeps."

 _bzzzzz_.

"Mai." It was just a simple one toned vocalization of her name yet she knew it meant something. Naru didn't even have to glance at her for her to know what he meant.

Her phone was annoying and disruptive. She ignored the notifications and turned the power off on her phone quietly and turned back to Nami, who seemed very much engrossed in her story. Naru was beginning to get bored.

Nami placed her hands against her chest. "And I wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly I can't move. I'm awake but my body is frozen and it's like somethings holding me down."

Naru's notebook shut in his lap. "Minamoto-san, what you are describing is sleep paralysis, and there is nothing I can do about that or your family issues."

 _Harsh_. Mai frowned and sent him a side glance of disapproval but Nami leaned forward, crying into her hands hysterically. "M-Minamoto-san?" She started unsurely, seeing that she remained unresponsive and continued to cry.

Naru had gone rigid in his seat the moment she started crying and he was going through the pages of his notebook almost nervously, looking at the pages with blank eyes and turning them quickly to make it seem like he was looking for something in his attempt at avoiding the crying women.

"I-I-I'm soooooo scared!" She sobbed loudly and swiped at her tears. "I-I think my husband doesn't want to be married to m-me anymoooooore!"

Naru let out a huff of a breath, briefly running his hand over his face. "Okay."

Nami stopped crying enough to look at him with teary eyes. "Okay?" She repeated.

"I'll send two of my employees to investigate for a night." Naru told her calmly and closed his book. "They will arrive Saturday morning and leave Sunday morning. We'll take it from there. Please leave your contact information and address here and we'll get back to you."

Mai frowned and cast him a confused glance.

"Thank you!" Nami said gratefully and bowed to them lowly, and Mai stood to take her information and escort her out.

Mai bowed as she left. "Have a nice night." The bell rang as the door shut and Mai turned away to head back to Naru, giving him a strange look. "Why did you accept her case?"

Naru avoided her eyes, turning a page in his book. "I thought you would be happy." He said calmly.

"I mean, sleep paralysis isn't paranormal so I'm just confused on why..." Mai's sentence trailed off when she saw that he was turning the pages in his book too quickly. Almost like he was trying to make himself look busy. Taking a closer look at him, the way he wasn't meeting her eyes and his stiff posture. Mai let out a laugh. "You caved, didn't you?" She suddenly asked him in amusement.

Naru glanced up, eyes narrowing. "Excuse me?"

"You caved." Mai repeated and grinned at him mischievously. "You don't think there's anything paranormal either, but her crying got you, didn't it?" She crossed her arms and placed her chin in her fingers thoughtfully. "Wow, I didn't think crying women were your weakness. I'll make sure to keep that in mind the next time you're working me to death without a day off."

The black haired male stood curtly, shutting his book with a slam. "Give me your phone."

Mai stopped smiling, her expression falling. "Huh?"

"Your phone." Naru stuck out his hand, motioning his fingers forward. "Give it."

Hesitant, Mai pulled her phone out of her pocket slowly, handing it to him in a confused state. Was he going to make a call? She watched as he grabbed her phone, staring at the screen quietly. He could use the office phone if he needed to make a call so why was he-

"Hey!" Mai snapped immediately when she realized that he was scrolling through her text messages. "What do you think you're doing?" She snatched her phone from his hands.

Naru glanced back up at her calmly, "I just wanted to see what was so important that it would interrupt your work with a client." He smirked wryly. "You have a very persistent boyfriend." He turned around sharply and walked from the room, his office door closing a second later.

"Boyfriend?" Mai repeated in confusion and actually looked at the texts herself.

 _Hey Mai_

 _Are you there?_

 _I was thinking we could go to a cafe this saturday?_

 _Maaaaaaaaaai?_

 _answer me T.T_

Urg. Mai cringed. It was Yasuhara.

It had been a few days since the mixer she had with Yasuhara and his friends and it was the weirdest thing she'd ever done in her life. Sitting beside him and knowing all these things about him when he thought of her as a stranger was odd. Still that didn't stop him from consistently bugging her the whole time they were at the karaoke and not leaving her alone.

Their conversations ranged from what their favourite movies were, favourite snacks, favourite everything basically. He was so intrigued with her when she tried to give him the bare minimum in their conversations and him finding out that she was basically a ghost hunter was just fuel to the huge fire.

He had walked her home that night and had when she stopped outside her apartment to look at him he was giving her such strong vibes she literally had to clarify the situation.

 _"This isn't a date."_ She told him seriously and she remembered his sudden confident grin he gave her.

 _"Not yet it isn't."_ Was his reply.

He had even somehow managed to get her phone number out of her and he texted her a thousand times a day about such stupid things.

"This is strange." Mai said to herself looking down at the texts, running a hand over her face. All she could think about was how this strange development would affect their friendship in the future.

A door clicked. "Mai." Naru leaned out to look at her. "Clear your schedule for Saturday, you'll be going to Minamoto-san's to investigate with Matsuzaki-san."

"Alright." Mai blinked and then looked down at her texts, suddenly grinning.

At least now she had an excuse to not go out with Yasu.

* * *

 **Saturday**

"So what you're saying is that we're basically going there to put this woman at ease?" Ayako asked blankly, staring at the blue eyed teenager.

"Yes." Naru nodded and handed her a file. "You'll do a routine check up, such as temperature readings, personal accounts from everyone in the house, and set up a few cameras. You're not taking any huge equipment with you, this is just a check up to assure Minamoto-san that everything is fine." He explained to them. "Everything you're doing is in the file."

Ayako took the file from his hands slowly, "I'm confused on why you took this case in the first place?"

"He couldn't refuse a crying damsel." Mai yawned from her place in the passenger seat, just dying to fall back asleep on the ride there.

"Hm." Ayako smirked. "I'll keep that in mind for future reference." She threw the file down as Lin packed the last bag into the back of the SPR van. "Don't know why I'm the one chosen for this boring case. Bou-san would've been a better person for it." She mumbled to herself quietly.

Naru narrowed his eyes. "I'm basically paying you to have a sleep over. Stop complaining and don't give us a bad reputation." He turned and walked away without a single goodbye and Mai rolled her eyes at his behaviour.

"Why is he so touchy." Ayako grumbled and started the van, pulling out of the lot. "First stop, the convenience store!" She said as she drove around the corner, going off route according to the GPS.

"What?" Mai blinked in confusion. "Naru said to go straight there."

Ayako shrugged. "It's not a sleepover without snacks." She ran a hand through her silky hair. "And if I'm going to be spending the night with a insomniac student who studies all night and a paranoid housewife I'm not doing it without something sweet to eat and some sleeping pills to get me through the night."

Mai couldn't hold in her laughter and turned to stare at the woman in disbelief. Ayako definitely had an attitude problem and was probably a little too confident in herself, but that meant she was never boring. Mai was glad that it was Ayako going with her to the Minamoto house and not Masako or Lin.

Ayako stopped at the store and Mai waited for her while she ran in to buy a few things, turning her head and leaning against the window as she watched a few young girls pass by with their arms interlocked and giggling quietly to each other as they watched a boy their age pass by. Mai blinked and then observed the girls and the male one more time. They were her age.

"Something's wrong with me." Mai sighed softly and closed her eyes.

Most days she didn't notice it, but occasionally she would be doing something totally normal, like sitting in class and talking with friends when she suddenly feels like she shouldn't be there. She should be somewhere else doing something more important. Like she was wasting her time away sitting in a classroom learning things she has already learned.

Life was moving so slow for her these days and she blamed it all on the dream.

Mai banged her head against the window. "Don't think about that, my brain will just hurt."

She also developed the habit of talking to herself.

The door opened and Ayako practically threw herself into the seat, putting the full plastic bag into the space between the two seats. "Why do you look so depressed?"

"Life's a little lackluster, recently. Just questioning the meaning of my life and why I'm here is all." Mai shrugged her shoulders.

Ayako frowned, turning to stare at the younger girl a little more carefully. "Sometimes you talk like you're in the middle of a midlife crisis."

Mai thought for a moment about what a midlife crisis was and then laughed lightly. "You know... you might not actually be wro-"

"Stop there." The red haired woman held up her manicured fingers. "You're a teen girl you should be having some fun. We're getting paid to have a sleepover, cheer up buttercup." She put the van into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot, finally following the right direction that the GPS showed them. The two of them drove for a little while and Ayako began to get a little frustrated with the traffic, tapping her fingers against the wheel and sighing repeatedly. "Okay, I'm done." She huffed out and pulled out the lane sharply, turning into a smaller street quickly.

"Whoa!" Mai gripped the seat tightly and used her other hand to steady herself. "Please slow down."

Ayako ignored her. "Traffic sucks, let's just get there quickly." She turned down another street quickly, barely even slowing as she made the tight turn.

"Ayako." Mai gripped the seat a little harder as a car sped by them in the narrow street.

The red head frowned. "And we still have to set up those stupid cameras." She turned another corner and slammed on the breaks when another car swerved their way. "What the hell!" She turned to look at Mai, "I can't believe this guy! Are you... alright..." Her sentence trailed off when she saw the look on the younger girls face. "Mai?"

Mai blinked, letting her fingers slowly loosen on the seat and swallowed down her spit. "Just give me a second." She said lowly and unbuckled her seat belt, pushing open the door and stepping out of the van on wobbly legs.

She remained there for a moment, simply standing.

The sound of a screeching car startled her and she shrieked, jumping back and then looking up frantically only to find that no cars were passing by. Ayako stepped out of the car and walked around the front, heading towards Mai in a concerned manner.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drive so quick." She apologized.

"One sec." Mai said calmly and then leaned forward, emptying her breakfast onto the street at her feet. "Okay, I'm good." She turned away and then stepped back into the van like she didn't just throw up.

Ayako got back into the van a second later. "Do you get car sick or something?"

"Not really." Mai said and then looked back out the window. "I just don't really like cars anymore. It's so easy to get into a car accident and die."

"Oh." Ayako blinked quickly and turned away from the younger girl. "Right, well let's just get there at a normal speed. No more swerving down smaller streets to avoid traffic, I promise." She started driving again, being a little more cautious this time and eventually the houses they were passing became became a little bigger and more modern than the rest from before. "Well off family I see." The older woman mumbled as she stared at the passing houses.

 _Like you're one to talk_. Mai wanted to quip back but held her tongue.

" _You have arrived at you're destination_." The GPS stated in a monotone voice as Ayako pulled into the driveway of a red bricked house with two floors and a garden to the left. The two females exited the car, both looking up at the nice house and area around them.

The front door opened and Minamoto Nami came out to greet them, dressed quite nicely and put together. However when she stood in front of them even her makeup couldn't hide the dark bags underneath her eyes and her frail frame. She seemed to have lost weight in the last few days. "Good morning, I'm glad you've arrived safely." She turned back to the house and motioned towards them. "My son can help you with your bags."

A young male with brown hair and dark eyes emerged from the house wearing a green coloured vest over a collared shirt, nervously shuffling about as he stopped beside his mother. "Good morning, my name is Akira. Nice to meet you." He bowed to them at the waist and Mai raised an eyebrow at him.

Awfully stiff he seemed. Mai understood him bowing so lowly to Ayako but he seemed about her age so his bow to her was a little too much.

Ayako briefly smiled. "Right, well our bags are in the back of the van. Feel free to take out the equipment in there too." Mai turned to the woman in disbelief and elbowed her in her side for her rude behaviour. Ayako ignored her and turned to Nami. "Can you show us to where we'll be staying for the night?"

Nami blinked and then glanced back and forth from the two of them seeming slightly put off. "Uhm, yes of course I can." She began walking, leading them down the pebble walkway to the house.

Mai glanced over her shoulder and watched as Akira struggled to carry both of their bags, his face going red in the process. "Do you think this is a hotel? Be a little more polite please." She whispered to the woman at her side.

"Fine." Ayako snipped back a little haughtily.

Nami stepped into the walk way of her house, motioning to the stair case. "Right this way." Mai stepped into the doorway and immediately took notice that their house was much more humid then it was outside but then pushed aside that observation as she began walking up the stairs behind the two woman.

They were led to where they would be staying in their separate rooms and Mai walked around her guest bedroom, looking at the painting on the wall opposite to her bed. It seemed quite gloomy, with the dark and blue colouring.

"My step father painted it."

Mai jumped and spun open quickly to find Akira standing in the doorway with her bag in his hands. She realized what he said earlier and turned back to the painting briefly. "Oh, painting is a nice pass time."

Akira moved further into the room to place her bag on the edge of her guest bed. "He never picked up a paint brush until recently."

Mai frowned and glanced back at the painting, staring at the artistic view of what seemed to be a drawing of a room or an antic. "He must've been pretty inspired then."

"Yeah." Akira chuckled slightly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, if you need any assistance I will be in the living room. It was nice meeting you Taniyama-san." Mai watched him leave the room awkwardly. He was so formal that she didn't really know how to interact with him. Even Lin wasn't so formal with her.

Mai and Ayako spent the rest of the morning setting up the cameras and microphones around the house, which didn't take long since Naru hadn't sent them with much. They were basically for show. Then they set up a monitor in a extra guest bedroom which would essentially be used as Base.

"Okay, now you need to be quiet." Mai snapped.

Ayako turned to her, offended. "Excuse me?"

"You're complaining too much, it's giving me a headache." Mai flinched and rubbed at her temples where a sharp pain was gnawing at her brain like some thing was trying to dig through her skull. "Literally."

Ayako rolled her eyes at the younger girl and pulled her blazer off, wiping at her sweaty neck. "It's so hot in here I can't help it. Complaining helps release stress for me."

"Obviously you need a different stress reliever. I'm assuming you don't have a boyfriend." Mai stated nonchalantly, continuing to go on with her current task of connecting the wires.

Ayako's face turned beat red and she smacks Mai on top of her head. "Why you little! How dare you? I can't believe the nerve of kids these days. You and Naru are both so aggravating."

Mai smiled up at her cheekily. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"How come no boyfriend? You're pretty and you seem to be well off." Mai commented casually and watched as Ayako fell into the chair beside her, letting out a sigh.

She shrugged. "I actually got out of a serious relationship a few months ago."

"Still hurt from him?" Mai asked.

Ayako licked her lips and leaned back. "I'm the one that dumped him. How about you? You're young and pretty."

"Me?" Mai raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "No one wants to _seriously_ date me!" She laughed in shock that Ayako would even think like that.

"Why do you think that?" Ayako leaned forward, suddenly interested.

Mai's face tuned red and she fumbled with the wires in her fingers. "Well I mean I'm... I'm..." An orphan. A bad student. Not good enough.

"It's time for lunch." Nami poked her head into the room just in time and Mai stood immediately as she was grateful for the distraction and barely gave Ayako a chance to protest before she was out of the room and following Nami down the stairs to the dining room, where Akira was already seated in front of their lunch. "So what is the plan for today? How do you usually handle cases?" Nami asked curiously.

Ayako looked up from her food. "Well after lunch we would like to get personal statements from each other you. Then we'll take temperature readings and wait to see if anything out of the ordinary happens."

The look on Nami's face seemed uneasy and Mai smiled lightly. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of waiting involved in this type of thing."

"Alright." Nami nodded and looked down at her lap. "However my husband won't be returning today, he says he'll just stay at his office tonight."

"He's not comfortable here?" Mai thought back to when she came to the office for their help and remember how she said her husband thought the house was creepy. That was quite interesting she thought so.

Still despite this fact, Ayako wasn't able to deduct anything out of the ordinary from Nami or Akira. Both of their personal statements didn't carry anything too noticeable and the temperature readings were just a little too warm, which could be blamed on the summer heat. The two females spent the day roaming around the house and the outside with Nami curiously following them around, hoping they could find some sort of explanation for her.

"It's sleep paralysis, don't know why she doesn't just go see a doctor." Ayako said as she sat on the edge of Mai's bed as everyone in the house retired for bed that night. They had the pile of snacks Ayako had bought earlier sprawled out on the bed between them and they were both sitting across from each other in their sleeping clothes with the lights dimmed.

Mai took a bite from one of the crackers, shrugging. "We can offer her an explanation in the morning but she might be one of those people who believe everything without an immediate explanation is a ghost. Kind of like those people who think every ache they have in their body must be cancer or something life threatening."

"True." Ayako rolled on her back to stare at the ceiling. "At least we'll be done in the morning."

 _Ding._

Mai turned to the left and found that her phone was alight with a notification of a text message. "Urg." She groaned as she picked it up and read the text. A hand snatched her phone from her hand a second later and Ayako read the text with curious eyes.

"Good night, with a heart." Ayako blinked. "From Yasuhara."

Mai shoved her face into her pillow. "He won't stop texting me."

Ayako placed the phone on the bed and then turned to stare carefully at the younger girl. "Mai, earlier what did you mean by saying that no one seriously wants to date you?" She watched as she lifted her face from the pillow slowly, hugging it to her chest and making her self seem smaller by curling up into herself. A sign she was suddenly insecure.

"I don't know, I mean... I'm an orphan." Mai said slowly.

Ayako paused. "You're an orphan?" She asked seeming shocked.

"Yeah, my dad died when I was younger and my mom passed away when I was in middle school." Mai told her calmly and ignored the way her heart clenched.

"I had no idea..." Ayako trailed off and then her gaze hardened. "What makes you think that no one will want you because you're an orphan? That's the most silliest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Mai, you're young and pretty. You're kind and funny. You're worth much more than that silly little head of yours thinks you are." She sat up after her rant and tried to not pay attention to Mai's embarrassed state as to not fluster her more.

Mai suddenly felt a hot flash of embarrassment come over her. Ayako was just as big a narcissist as Naru yet she was saying such kind things to her. "Thank you." Mai said truthfully and stood. "Uhm, I'm gonna go to the washroom."

"Hurry back, I wanna watch a rom-com." Ayako told her nonchalantly.

Mai smiled. "Okay." She closed the bedroom door behind her and stepped into the hall way and walked towards the washroom.

A sudden coldness washed over her feet and she stopped. Turning slowly she began to hear some sort of scribbling and the sound of rustling paper. To her right, a bedroom door remained open a small sliver and the cool air was leaking out from underneath the door where a dim light seemed to illuminate from. Swallowing the fear in her, Mai reminded herself that there was a fat chance this place was haunted considering everything so far. She leaned forward and slowly pushed open the door slightly and she froze.

Akira was at his desk with the desk light on and his back was to her. She could see that his hand was gripped tightly around a pencil as he scribbled into a notebook violently.

 _"My son, his name is Akira, he's suddenly become obsessed with strange things. Such as cleaning and... and studying!"_

Mai remembered Nami's words from that day she came to the office and frowned. The floor creaked beneath her as she began to retreat when an eerie feeling washed over her and Akira suddenly stopped, his body became stiff and his hand froze on the paper.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to intrude." Mai apologize quickly before he became suspicious of her but he remained still, not moving an inch. "Akira...san?"

His neck snapped back and he turned to look at her quickly and her stomach dropped, dread filling her. His eyes were wide and intense, a dark and hollow look in his eyes that was so unlike the timid boy she met earlier on in the day. He still remained frozen, just simply staring at her with that look in his eyes. He was angry. Very very angry.

Something was wrong here.

The pencil held between his fingers rolled out of his grip and hit the paper in front of him.

 _Run_. Mai moved at the same time that he lunged for her, arms outstretched and his lips pursed, and she fell into the hallway, hitting the floor with a thud. She moved to stand but the moment she made it off her knee's a sudden feeling of dizziness overcame her and she fell to the ground again, her limbs becoming weak and beginning to feel like they weren't there. Like she was floating and had no strength to move.

 _Ayako,_ she wanted to scream but couldn't. Keeping her eyes open suddenly had become the hardest thing she had to do.

The door creaked open slowly and she watched with blurry eyes as Akira walked from his room slowly, taking quiet but heavy steps towards her.

Her eyes slid shut just as he stopped beside her, losing consciousness.

Akira tilted his head and simply gazed down at her with a blank gaze.

* * *

 **I could've had this chapter up so long ago but every time I saved it in my documents the paragraphs would all disappear and the whole chapter would be mushed into one big paragraph and it was soooo frustrating. today I figured out that it had something to do with my adblock and so bam, problem fixed lol. I've also gotten into the habit of listening to the ghost hunt soundtrack to get my inspiration because i've literally watched the ghost hunt episodes so many times in the past years since i first watched it that i'm so familiar with all the music on it.**

 **I remember when the ghost hunt section on this website only had like 1k fanfics on it. good times, good times.**

 **Anyway, what did you guys think of this chapter? Personally for me it could've been better but I thought that I should get this chapter out as quickly as possible.**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Day 1**_

Naru blinked. "And how did you not catch this earlier on in the day?"

Ayako stopped her pacing and looking at the younger male. "I-I have no idea, I don't think she was even sick."

"No one suddenly develops this high of a fever in a span of a minute and passes out." Naru snipped back at the older woman as they stood around the bed in Mai's room, where the girl herself remained in her bed with a wet towel over her head, skin hot from a high fever that hadn't broken since the night. "You said that Minamoto-san and her son went to visit her husband at his office, correct?"

Ayako nodded, "Yes, I have the key's if we need to leave."

Naru thought for a moment before glancing at the brown haired girl. "For now, let's leave the room and give her some privacy." The young boss told Ayako and Lin and the three of them exited the room.

Lin shut the door quietly behind them as they exited into the hall. "How did you find her?" He asked, as the phone call that they received last night from the red headed women didn't give them any detail aside from the fact that Mai had fainted from a high fever.

Ayako turned to look at the hall floor to the right of them. "Right there." She pointed to a space in the floor and both males turned to look at it.

"She passed out in the middle of the floor?" Naru asked with a raised eyebrow, not quite believing it.

"Yes!" Ayako snapped back at him. "We were talking and she said she was going to the washroom and left, it took me a while to realize that she was taking an unusually long amount of time and when I came to check on her she was just laying here, asleep."

"How long would you say?" Lin stared at the woman.

"Half hour maybe?" Ayako frowned as she thought back. "I'm not sure exactly. She could have been in the washroom for a while and then a passed out on the way back?" The two of the males nodded and Ayako frowned as she watched them interact with each other quietly, leaving her out of the conversation. Sighing as she fanned herself she turned to glance over her shoulder. "What the hell is the thermostat we need the air conditioning on."

Naru gave her a brief look. "Help me get her up, we're going to bring her to the local clinic."

Ayako nodded in agreement since she was a little worried about Mai's condition and moved back into the room, running her hand over Mai's sweaty forehead. "Hey Mai, can you stand?"

It took Mai a moment to realize that someone was talking to her and she nodded, moving her body sluggishly as she sat up, her limps feeling heavy as she gripped the woman's arms to help her stand. The two struggled for a brief second before Mai placed her feet onto the ground and stood, falling to the side when she couldn't hold her weight.

A cold hand gripped her hand and then her elbow to help pull her up and Mai turned to look at her boss, a little confused but relieved at the cool temperature of his hands.

They made it down the steps slowly and as Ayako helped put her shoes on her feet Mai began to feel like she was forgetting something but the more she thought about it the more the blurry image of someone hovering over her become even more distorted in her mind, like the details of a dream slipping further and further away.

When they made it out of the house a cold whoosh of air hit her in the face and she sucked in a deep breath in content. "It's nice outside." She said with a small laugh and Ayako helped her walk down the steps, Naru's cold hand just lingering on her arm in case she would fall again but as they made their way to the van she regained her strength. Her legs became strong and didn't feel so wobbly, the pressure in her head that was the consistent headache she had since she stepped foot on the house coming undone, and the warmth her body was holding simply releasing.

The front door slammed shut the moment Lin stepped outside despite the fact that no one remained in the house and they all stopped, turning to look back in shock.

Naru turned to Ayako. "Minamoto-san and her son-"

"Are gone." Ayako had suddenly gone white. "No one's in that house right now."

"Ayako." Mai suddenly said in a calm voice and they turned to look at her. "I'm fine now."

Naru furrowed his brows at her. "No you're not."

"I am, really." Mai stated and although she seemed calm she was just as confused. Her boss and the two others took a better look at her and noticed she was standing on her own and her face had regained colour. She seemed strong and lucid, as usual. Still Ayako checked her forehead and took a good look at her before turning back to Naru and Lin with an incredulous gaze.

"She's alright." She confirmed and they four simultaneously turned to look back at the house.

Perhaps Minamoto Nami hadn't been dramatic when she came to them for help.

* * *

Mai smirked as they left the building, brushing her hair behind her ears as she turned to Naru. "Told you I was fine."

He blinked, ignoring her as they stepped from the curb. "I wasn't trying to prove you wrong, I wanted a confirmation that you were fine from a professional." He told her in a snippy voice as they made their way back from the clinic to the van.

"I know you're upset you messed up with thinking nothing was going on at Minamoto-san's but don't take it out on me." Mai snipped back and ignored his piercing gaze on the side of her head as she brushed past him to get back into the van beside Ayako. She watched as the black clad male slid into the passenger seat and sighed. "Are we going back to the Minamoto household?"

"We have a case, don't we?" Naru asked her and Mai smiled wryly. She thought so. Strange that it wasn't in her dream though. Not even Nami's name was written in her book anywhere.

This case seemed to have come from out of the nowhere and Mai was confused and a little worried because she didn't want the timeline for when the next case in her notebook came along to be changed, which she had been reading profusely on in preparation only for this surprise to come up. She closed her eyes as Lin drove and tried her hardest to think and see if she maybe had missed a whole chunk of the dream somewhere in her memory she was sure that it wasn't there.

An image of Akira, Nami's son, walking towards her with a blank expression flashed through her mind in that moment and she jumped in her seat.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot. Uhm, something is wrong with Akira." She suddenly brought up and caught Lin looking at her in the rearview mirror as Naru turned his head to stare at her. Explanation, his eyes demanded and she smiled nervously. "I actually forgot about it but last night he was up and he was writing in a school book really violently and intense. I tried to apologize for going into his room without permission but he like... tried to grab me and I tripped and I think that's when the fever must have hit me." Mai thought back to the way her legs had given out on her. "It was almost like my energy was left me all at once, I passed out after that."

Ayako tilted her head with a shocked expression. "Mai you mentioned yesterday you had a headache. I thought you were being dramatic because you were sick of my complaining but..." She trailed off like she was connecting the dots in her head, her expression falling and her eyebrows narrowing on her forehead. "Not to mention that house is unbelievably hot all the time, even hotter than outside and that's pretty high considering the weather right now."

Naru listened to the two carefully and frowned, watching the scenery pass by. "So there's been signs pointing to paranormal, however we've just been overlooking it."

The two females nodded in confirmation and they pulled up at the house just in time, another car was pulled into the driveway and Ayako blinked. "It seems that the husband returned home."

They filed out of the van just as the front door opened and instead of Nami her husband came flying out of the house, red faced and rushing towards them while his wife chased after him with a pleading expression. "Please! Please, stop!" She was crying as she gripped at his arm but he only ripped away from her and continued on his power walk across the lawn in their direction.

"You shouldn't have come here!" He snapped at them and although he was angry and yelling at them Mai could only see a man, stressed because he was married to a woman who had a teenage soon and because he wasn't comfortable in his own home. He ran his hands through his hair and turned to Nami, grabbing her by the arms. "I'm sorry, but we have to move or this isn't going to work out." He turned back to them, "Bringing them here only made it worse."

Naru watched his narrowed eyes as he watched the man returned to his car, driving off. "What did he mean by saying that we made it worse?" He asked lowly, eyes cold. Nami nervously shifted in her place, seeming to try and compose herself before she began speaking. "I can't help you if you don't explain." Naru said icily, no sympathy for her situation at all.

Nami swallowed down her tears and glanced towards the house before turning to look back at them, opening her mouth in an unsure manner. "Well, I..." She stopped for a moment and Mai watched as Naru's hands flexed at his side and pushed past him, making her to keep her hand on his arm as she moved in front of him to keep him from snapping at the woman in his impatience.

Everyone saw a cool expression and intelligence when they looked at her boss, so his bad attitude was often dismissed but Mai saw how he took his anger out on everyone around him occasionally, like everything always went his way and if it didn't then it wasn't his fault. He made a mistake in not properly investigating Minamoto Nami's as the boss of SPR and yet he still got mad at everyone around him.

"Can you show us?" Mai asked gently and Nami nodded while she sniffled, turning around and leading them back towards her house. Before Mai followed her she turned around to meet Naru's eyes seriously. "You're the boss here. You made the mistake with dismissing Minamoto-san's claims without proper investigation and so you take responsibility as the person in charge." She told him and tried to ignore the way his gaze seemed to stare into her soul. She let her hand fall from his arm. "So stop acting like a child."

Ayako blinked, shocked, and then turned to look at Lin who was seemed a little stumped. Mai turned around and walked after Nami, Naru following shortly after silently like his assistant hadn't just told him off and the two adults stood in a small silence for a brief second before they followed after, each of them storing in their mind that Naru hadn't said anything in return.

Not an insult, a word in his defense, or a denial.

Lin's eyes followed after his teenage boss and couldn't help but let his lips curve into a small smirk. It wasn't everyday Naru admitted he was wrong.

"This has never happened before, so whatever it is it doesn't like that you're here." Nami told them as she opened the door and stepped inside, the four of them stepping in after. "I didn't move anything in case you wanted to see it so..."

Mai stepped further into the house, her eyes widening slightly. Picture frames, candles, condiments from the kitchen counter, vases, anything small that it could use whatever it was in the house lined them up in a straight line from the front door all the way up the stairs.

Lin looked up the staircase. "How far does it go?" He asked her.

"It stops in the middle of the hallway." Nami told him nervously and turned to Naru. "Please, I'm scared. What is this?"

Naru frowned as he stepped further into the house, making sure not to knock over the specifically placed items. "Believe it or not Minamoto-san, but these kinds of things aren't uncommon with haunting's." He turned to look at her and his face was devoid of any anger. "We've seen this kind of behaviour before. Lin take photos and after he's done Mai help Minamoto-san place back all of her items."

The red headed woman of the group tilted her head. "And what am I supposed to do?" She asked in annoyance.

Naru turned to her and his eyes were alight with something akin to interest, like he was finally ready to solve a case. "You are going to go get John-san."

"John, why?" Mai asked in confusion.

"Because I believe we're dealing with possession." Naru stated simply like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Seeing that Mai and Ayako were still staring at him in confusion he turned to them with a raised eyebrow. "Spirit possession isn't so black and white. Often times if can mean that someones behaviour changes as in they get irritated over the smallest things, or something they did in their everyday life becomes huge and they obsess over it, such as Minamoto-san's son with his studying. People can fall ill or feel fatigued like their energy is being drained, or sometimes they black out and the spirit overcomes them completely. This would explain the son's strange behaviour and Mai's illness."

Mai shook her head and motioned to the items lined up on the floor. "And what about all of this."

"This is normal for spirits. There have been many previous cases all over the world with spirits lining and stacking items. Patterns and obvious placements of objects can be their way of telling the living that they're there." Naru explained calmly to her and his eyes turned to Ayako went she began speaking.

She shook her head. "You missed that part about Minamoto-san's sleep paralysis, if there is a spirit here then that can't be overlooked."

Naru smirked smugly, like he knew something they didn't. "That's simple, she's Catholic."

"Hah?" Mai and Ayako let their confusion show. "Where did you get that from?'

He pointed to the fireplace in the living room, where a picture of the Virgin Mary hung in all of its glory. "Hard to miss." He turned to Nami who had simply just been standing by listening to their conversation. "Also I'm assuming the necklace you're wearing is a cross, yes?" Nami blinked in shock and her fingers unconsciously went to her neck where a small part of the necklace peaked through over the edge of her shirt.

"Yes, you're right." She pulled it out so it rested on the top of her shirt.

Naru turned away from her to glance down at the items carefully. "You wear that at all times? Even when you sleep?"

"Yes." Nami nodded slowly.

"The cross must make it hard for the spirit to enter her body so it could explain why she's aware but can't move her body, an internal struggle between the spirit and Minamoto-san I'd say." Naru turned his back of the two woman to continue looking around the house, eyes carefully observing something before he turned back to stare at them. "You should be on you're way, it's easier if he's here to drive the spirit from them if anything were to happen while we investigated who and why the spirit is here."

Mai's eye twitched as she watched her boss, standing in the doorway of the house having barely been there for all of two seconds before he had everything figured out.

How annoying.

* * *

 **lmao so recently i started rewatching some of the anime i watched when i first started getting interested in anime, way back when i was in middle school and i just remembered how obsessed i was with** School Rumble **and how funny i thought the whole Harima - Tenma - Karasuma - Curry love circle was. Also that gun episode was literally so dramatic and the best. love that anime. ALSO** Fruits Basket **! I started rewatching that cause i found a few chapters of a yuki sohma/oc fanfic i had written a while back and it was so good i was inspired to watch the anime again.**

 **also if you guys are interested in a kyoya/oc fanfic i've posted one, you should check it out.**

 **anywayyyyy, what did yall think of this chapter? SPOOKY OCTOBER HAS ME INSPIRED.**


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